TEL AVIV: Moments after US President Joe Biden touched down in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, the Israeli military showed him new hardware it says is essential to confronting Iran: anti-drone lasers.
While Israel has long been known for its efforts to thwart Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, Israeli officials have increasingly been sounding the alarm over Iran’s fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Earlier this month, the Israeli military said it had intercepted four unarmed drones headed for an offshore gas rig, claiming they were Iranian-made and launched by the Tehran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah.
As concerns mount over drone warfare, Israel hopes the new “Iron Beam” system will secure its skies.
While not yet operational, the military hardware was described as a “game-changer” in April by then-prime minister Naftali Bennett.
On Wednesday, the Israeli army showed Biden footage of drones being intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system already in place, and the Iron Beam system which uses laser technology.
“It (Iron Beam) will be operational in very few years, it will be on the ground, integrated with Iron Dome,” Daniel Gold, head of research at Israel’s defence ministry, told AFP.
He said the two systems will “complement each other”.
“They will work together, the brain of Iron Dome — the command and control — will decide in real time who is going to shoot — the laser or the missile,” he said.
Presenting such technology to Biden is a strategic move for Israel, which saw Washington approve a billion-dollar package in September for the Iron Dome system.
Iron Dome has been used countless times to intercept rockets fired by militants from the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Iran’s ally Hamas.
The defence system costs roughly $50,000 per launch, while Bennett priced the Iron Beam at $3.50 per deployment.
He said the new defence system was “silent” and could “intercept incoming UAVs, mortars, rockets and anti-tank missiles”.
Uzi Rubin, a former Israeli defence ministry specialist in anti-missile systems, said intercepting drones was a significant challenge.
“The laser technology will have more capacity against drones than rockets and missiles,” said Rubin, who is based at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security.
“It is going to help if we get some American financing” for the Iron Beam, he added.
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