U.S.-Israeli laser test successfully downs Katyusha rockets
Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, September 26, 2000
TEL AVIV — A joint Israeli-U.S. laser system has destroyed a salvo
of Katyusha rockets.
Israeli officials said this was the second time that the Tactical High
Energy laser demonstrator successfully tracked and destroyed a salvo of
Katyusha rockets. The latest test, however, was held under what officials
termed more difficult conditions.
Officials said the test was conducted at the White Sands missile range
in New Mexico on Friday. They said the THEL destroyed two Katyusha rockets
fired simultaneously.
In an Aug. 28 test, the THEL demonstrator destroyed two Katyusha rockets
fired in succession. On June 6, the laser shot down a Katyusha rocket in a
single launch.
The laser system contains a pointer-tracker, a command control,
communications and intelligence center and a fire control radar. The system
is meant to protect northern Israel from the hundreds of Katyusha rockets in
the arsenal of the Iranian-backed Hizbullah.
The prime contractor is TRW of California. Israeli subcontractors
include Israel Aircraft Industries, Elta Electronics Industries, Rafael,
Israel Armament Development Authority and El-Op Electro-Optics Industries.
The demonstrator is stationary.
Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Ben-Yisrael, head of the Defense Ministry's research
and development directorate, said the latest success has demonstrated the
effectiveness of the THEL. Ben-Yisrael called for an Israeli decision to
develop an operational laser weapon that would mobile.
Tuesday, September 26, 2000
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