Controversy over Israel's Future Defense Systems

by David Harris
Xinhua
June 26, 2009

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/1331/controversy-over-israels-future-defense-systems

When Israeli citizens were forced into their subterranean bomb shelters and in-house protected rooms, under attack from Lebanon or the Gaza Strip, the country's military would have been responding to missile fire with anti-missile rockets and missiles.

However, it is an expensive business, with each rocket costing tens of thousands of U.S. dollars.

A group of Israeli military scientists working in the private sector have clubbed together to pressure the government into agreeing to purchase the latest tactical high-energy laser technology.

The American Skyguard laser system is the best option, according to the group that has been lobbying Israeli Defense Ministry for several years. Yet the ministry dismisses the system, predominantly using the cost argument as the reason for turning down Skyguard.

There is a 1.2-billion-USD price tag in bringing the platform to Israel and positioning it in sufficient locations along Israel's northern frontier and the border with Gaza.

Yet the lobby says the system will prove cost-effective during the course of its lifetime. Its representatives argue that it can be at least 100 times cheaper to shoot down an incoming missile or rocket than conventional systems.

A single laser round costs anywhere from 1,000 U.S. dollars to 2,000, they told a conference Thursday at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University in Israel.

The team says it does not want to replace the existing defensive weaponry but rather complement it. The 1.2-billion-USD cost would include the deployment of 26 systems along the border with Lebanon and eight next to Gaza.

The group's cost argument is dismissed by Uzi Rubin, former head of Israel's Arrow anti-missile program.

"Pricing can not be based just on firing but must take into account the complete system," he challenged the assertions of the pro-laser group, adding that he believes there is no need to have two separate defensive systems.

"The situation is somewhat more complicated. The costing is very detailed... you need to approach all of this with caution," said Major General Yair Golan of the Israel Defense Forces' Home Front Command.

But as the threats change, the group's representative, Yosef Arazi, vice president for defense systems at Del-Ta Engineering Equipment, insists Israel must be prepared for any eventuality.

"We've still not experienced an accurate ballistic missile attack," he said.

Skyguard is the brainchild of U.S. defense firm Northrop Grumman. It was developed in the late 1990s and Israel had intended to purchase and deploy this 10-km-range missile and radar system in the first couple of years of the new millennium.

However, in 2001 the government halted the plan, placing much of the blame on the cost of the project and stating that Israel would be focusing on missile systems such as the David's Sling and the Iron Dome.

The pro-laser group claims it would take three times more Iron Domes to cover the same area as the proposed Skyguards.

"They've never once been tested in Israel," said Arazi.

However, Israeli defense chiefs are fully aware of the latest in military hardware and would not dismiss any option without good reasons -- the trouble for the media and public is that the reasons are never made public.

Whichever way the lot eventually falls, Israel is faced by an increasingly-advanced regional arsenal.

The Syrians, for example, have increased the range of their SCUD missiles, which are now capable of reaching Israel's largest population center, Greater Tel Aviv, said Rubin.

The Iranians now seem to have left the Shihab missiles in the past and are now concentrating their efforts on developing the Ashura/Sajeel two-stage, solid-propellant ballistic missile with a2,400-km range.

While Israel has very powerful weapons of its own, including its often-reported nuclear bombs, publicly it puts most of its focus on its defensive capabilities and its deterrence.

"Deterrence has become a vital component of Israel's defense system," said Shaul Shai, deputy head of the country's National Security Council.

As the military chiefs are seemingly looking for orderly governmental directives in the ever-changing reality of the Middle East, Shai is calling for a serious study of Israel's overall defense direction and the guarantee that the study would not be ignored as was the case with previous documents.

"This shouldn't be another report that sits on a shelf gathering dust, but a living document... it needs to be the reference point from which Israel develops its tactics for dealing with long-term challenges," he said.

Among the issues the document must tackle is budgetary constraints. Israeli Finance Ministry insists spending be calculated on a year-on-year basis, with a specific amount approved for each year.

That process must be changed into a multi-year plan, said Shai, who also called for the recommendations of any report to be introduced to the statute books via parliamentary legislation.

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