Israel Preparing Missile Defenses

Israeli Air Force Conducts Anti-Missile Defense Drills

By David Dolan
DDolan.com

The Israeli Air Force recently conducted a series of defense drills to test how well prepared Israel is to deal with the possibility of coordinated missile attacks from several declared enemies. Officials have been warning for some time of the potential that a missile barrage could be launched simultaneously by a number of countries, especially Iran, Syria and Lebanon. Rockets might also be launched at the same time from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, which has been receiving Iranian Grad rockets with increasingly longer ranges.

Lieutenant Colonel Avi Cohen said the Air Force “checked which defense system we will use if missile attacks are launched from different countries with different ranges.” He added that some Israeli anti-missile systems “can deal with a number of different threats, and we need to set up the doctrine for how we will use them” if a simultaneous barrage is fired at the Jewish state.

Many international security analysts say Israel’s multi-layered anti-missile defense systems are among the most advanced on earth, with a number of Western countries interested in learning more about the country’s approach to the growing missile threat.