Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon warns that the nation may not be able to add the Magic Wand medium and long-range missile defense system to its arsenal. Ya’alon explained “I am not trying to scare anyone” but this is the reality in light of today’s defense budget.
The minister explained “There are 100,000 missiles threatening Israel from the north and tens of thousands of others from Gaza”, echoing concerns voiced this week by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz regarding major cuts in the government’s funding of the military. Gantz warned of a lack of IDF preparedness as a result of budget cuts which resulted in the cancelation of training exercises for reserve duty soldiers and officers.
Ya’alon explained that the budget is not up to the IDF, but the government and the decision has been made and the defense community will have to address the ramifications of the cuts.
Ya’alon explained that in the coming days difficult decisions will have to be made and this may include cutting development of the Magic Wand project in light of the difficult financial reality that exists today.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
Note that the leaders of Israel seem to be unconcerned about any Arab threat. In fact, they see the army primarily as a weapon for trying to destroy the hareidim community, rather than as a fighting force necessary to protect Israel from bad guys. It could be the zionists are fools, or it could be they really agree that the Israel’s military situation is hardly dire.
Sheesh. I had this discussion with the Ministry of Defense 25 years ago when we started working on Arrow, and again when they started working on a system similar to Iron Dome, using a different technology. It’s called Cost Exchange at the Margin (CEATM).
If the threat cost $1.95 per missile, and your defensive missile costs $1 million per shot (usually it takes at least two shots to guarantee over 90% probability of kill), the enemy has a million to one cost advantage (in this example). For Arrow, the threats are long range and expensive, so the CEATM is worth it. But for Iron Dome, and certainly Magic Wand, the CEATM is enormous and will bankrupt the IDF.