Israel and the US marked a major milestone in their collaboration on missile defense after completing live-fire intercept tests of the David's Sling Weapon System (DSWS), the countries announced Tuesday.
The tests were designed to gauge the ability of the system's features by simulating cruise and ballistic missiles.
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"The Israel Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) of the Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) of the Israel Ministry of Defense (IMOD) together with the Missile Defense Agency, successfully completed a series of flight tests of the David's Sling Weapon System (DSWS) in an advanced system configuration against current and emerging threats," the US military's Missle Defense Agency said in a statement. "During the campaign, designated David's Sling Test-7 (DST-7), IMDO successfully demonstrated advanced capabilities of the DSWS in the intercept of a threat representative target. This intercept test represents a key milestone in DSWS development."
Video: Defense Ministry
According to the statement, "additional flight testing was conducted as part of the campaign to collect technical and engineering data associated with the DSWS performance and intra-operability between different layers of the Israeli multi-tier defense architecture, including Arrow Weapon System, David's Sling and Iron Dome Defense System that will allow integrated combat capabilities with additional interception opportunities."
Iron Dome, the Arrow, and David's Sling are part of the joint US-Israeli project aimed at developing a multi-layered missile defense system that would allow Israel to maintain its military edge in the region. The Iron Dome has been instrumental at intercepting rockets from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, and the hope is that the project would also be useful in any future conflagration involving long- and medium-range missiles from Iran.
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