Indian Defence Review

Three events that took place in quick succession between 19 and 21 December 2015 were of particular importance to the State of Israel. First, the assassination of Samir Kuntar, a quite popular militant of the Lebanese Hezbollah; second, the speech by Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah which threatened Israel with retaliation and third, Israel’s launch and successful testing of the David’s Sling missile defence system.

Samir Kuntar, a notorious member of the Lebanese Shi’ite militia Hezbollah, was killed in an airstrike on an apartment in Damascus on 19 December. Kuntar is responsible for the murder of Israeli citizens and spent time in an Israeli prison only to be released in a prisoner exchange in 2008.

Hezbollah took no time in confirming Kuntar’s death and blamed Israel for it. His death was followed by the launch of three rockets from Lebanon into Israel. There is a mounting air of tension in the surrounding areas after Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened Israel with retaliation.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) quite often tests its battle readiness and level of preparedness, in expectation of a full-scale conflict with the Shi’ite militia. One major part of securing Israel against an attack by Hezbollah is Israel’s air defence.

The Israeli air defence is a three tiered system which consists of the Arrow, David’s Sling and Iron Dome missile defence systems. The Iron Dome was exceptionally successful in thwarting rockets launched by Hamas in Gaza during the 2012 and 2014 conflicts.

Israel’s Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system is known as Arrow and it is reserved for intercepting Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) in the stratosphere. After the 2006 Lebanon war, questions were raised about the IDF’s capabilities against the Hezbollah missile threat, which includes the Iranian Fajr-5 and the Russian manufactured Yakhont supersonic cruise missiles that are capable of targeting Tel Aviv.

The answer was the development of David’s Sling – a medium range missile defence system that would be able to target cruise missiles, aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

In the aftermath of the 2006 Lebanon War, Rafael Advanced Defence Systems of Israel was given a contract to build a missile defence system that would enable Israel to counter missile threats, especially from Lebanon. The United States provided around $330 million for the development of this programme and the US funding also allowed Rafael to partner with the Arlington based Raytheon.

With a variety of short and medium range projectiles in its arsenal, Hezbollah poses a significant threat to the civilian population of Israel. The 2006 war was a clear example whereby Israeli civilians were regularly exposed to Hezbollah’s missile and rocket salvoes. According to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, 44 Israeli civilians had been killed in rocket attacks. During the war, Israel relied heavily on its advanced warning systems and bomb shelters in order to protect its citizens. Around 90-95% of projectiles fired at Israel during the 2006 war were the Katyusha rockets with a short range of 30 km.

Since the end of the war Hezbollah has been bolstering its rocket arsenal and it is estimated that they possess a stockpile of around 30,000 projectiles, more than twice the number they had in 2006. Among these are sophisticated missiles like the Fajr-5 which has a range of around 70 km, Zelzal variety of missiles with a range of more than 200 km, Scud-B range of missiles which is expected to go beyond the 300 km radius and the Yakhont supersonic cruise missile capable of targeting aircraft.

If the 30 km range Katyushas could create a large death toll and impose significant challenges on the IDF, the odds that Hezbollah’s refurbished rocket cache would turn out to be catastrophic for Israel are quite high. Considering these odds Israel simply cannot rely on bomb shelters and warning systems in a future conflict. It is in this conflicting situation that the David’s Sling missile defence system is expected to play a pivotal role in protecting Israel’s civilian population.

The missile system owes its nomenclature to the biblical legend of David whose sling was used to defeat the mighty Goliath. Today, the David’s Sling missile system is expected to tackle the might of a potential rocket barrage that would endanger the entire civilian population of Israel.

From 2012 onwards a series of tests have been conducted in order to examine the efficacy of the system in intercepting incoming rockets. In 2012 Israel successfully tested the interceptor missile of David’s Sling known as the Stunner Terminal Missile Interceptor.

The final test was successfully completed on 21 December 2015 and this was achieved right after Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel that Samir Kuntar’s death would be avenged. David’s Sling has been called “efficient, fast and deadly” and this can only be proved on the battleground. Whether the time of the test was strategically chosen to coincide with Nasrallah’s televised speech or not, the fact remains that the ultimate test for David’s Sling will be against the feared rocket capabilities of Hezbollah. Will it be able to replicate the success of the Iran Dome in Gaza? Only time will tell.