U.S.-Israeli laser test successfully downs Katyusha rockets

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.