Israel Moves for US Heavy Artillery System

Press Tv
May 2, 2009

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/924/israel-moves-for-us-heavy-artillery-system

Israel is set to equip itself with Raytheon's excellent Vulcan Phalanx super-fast heavy artillery to use as shield against short range Qassam missiles.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Haaretz that he had made a bid for the US-made Raytheon's excellent Vulcan Phalanx heavy machine gun and guidance system which has a range of up to 4 miles (over 6 kilometers).

According to Barak, the Vulcan Phalanx will be used as a defense system in Sderot and other Israeli communities in northwestern Negev should the locations come under attack from Hamas.

Israel says the effective system is to provide early warnings and interception of very-short-range Qassam rockets and mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip.

"The Vulcan-Phalanx cannons and radar will be part of a multi-layer defense to intercept rockets," Barak told Haaretz earlier last week.

"Such defense, as far as I am concerned, is a strategic goal. The goal is to create a situation where as many rockets as possible launched at Israel are intercepted."

The US-built system is to be made use of until the Israeli-manufactured Iron Dome is ready to "provide protection" for the cited location. However, the Iron Dome system is still years away from going operational.

The heavy machine gun and guidance system operates with the help of the Phalanx radar for tracking down rockets and the 20-millimetre Vulcan Gatling gun for shooting them down.

The Vulcan-Phalanx system, worth $25 million each, has previously been tested by the US Army in Iraq and Afghanistan and is believed to have operated "superbly well."

Related Topics:  Palestinian Rockets receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free jewish policy center mailing list