Israel has decided against buying the Nautilus, an anti-rocket laser for the Sderot/Gaza border – produced by the United States – because of the device’s poor performance in field tests.
According to Reuters, Israel’s Defense Ministry director-general flew to the United States last week to re-evaluate the Israeli-U.S. invention that uses a laser to blow up rockets and mortars mid-flight. Israeli experts had previously said that the device is unreliable, and Army Radio said that the Director-General had found little improvement.
“Were we to order it as is, to protect Sderot, we would create two things,” Pinchas Buchris told Galei Tzahal. “First, there would be the illusion, for Sderot residents, that it provides a response; and secondly, we would create a situation where Hamas felt it had scored an achievement in that…..we have no way of coping with the Kassams.”
Israel continues searching for a reliable device which can adequately protect the citizens in and around Sderot.
(Source: Reuters)
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3 Responses
As someone who has worked in laser weapons for decades, I can say it was a good decision, although for the wrong reasons.
While Nautilus’ predecessor THEL worked exceptionally well in field tests at White Sands Missile Range, a high energy laser for defense against cheap, proliferated, short range missiles is the wrong choice for a weapon system because of asymmetric mission requirements and high cost exchange at the margin.
“secondly, we would create a situation where Hamas felt it had scored an achievement in that…we have no way of coping with the Kassams.”
It certainly doesn’t seem like you do. Why have you allowed them to mercilessly rain down on YOUR innocent civillians for over 4 YEARS? What civilized country worth anything would allow such a pathetic failure to keep reocurring?
Israel does not need lasers. They need guts to flatten gaza