Breaking Defense:
TEL AVIV: After Hamas fired 460 rockets in a single day last month, Israel may reinforce its vaunted Iron Dome defense with laser weapons that offer quicker reaction times, unlimited ammunition, and lower cost per shot. That’s a striking reversal 12 years after Israel largely abandoned lasers in favor of interceptor missiles like Iron Dome.
“There is a growing number of experts that understand the mistake that was made,” a senior Israeli source told Breaking Defense. “(We’re) ready to restart development with the more advanced building blocks available today.”
The Defense Ministry is putting together a plan to spend “several billion shekels” (at least $800,000) on a new laser system. The head of Israel’s space agency, Maj. Gen. (reserve) Yitzhak Ben-Israel, even said last week that Israel had achieved a breakthrough that would allow it to field a rocket-killing laser within a year.
