Iron Dome has been declared the only real Israeli winner in the recent Gaza fighting.
But it has a big brother coming on line soon, Magic Wand (aka David’s Sling):
The IDF is in the final stages of laying the groundwork to deploy the “Magic Wand” missile defense system in central Israel.
The move to deploy the system comes on the heels of Israel’s deployment of the Iron Dome missile defense system in the south, which has provided efficient, but limited protection from rockets fired by terrorists operating in Hamas-run Gaza into southern Israel.
If it works as advertised, Magic Wand will be able to operate in inclement weather and will fire intercepting missiles capable of changing course mid-flight. Whereas Iron Dome is intended to intercept short range rockets, Magic Wand is designed to intercept long-range missiles fired from Gaza and Lebanon…
The Iron Dome and Magic Wand are two of the three systems Israel is developing and deploying as part of its multilayered missile and rocket defense apparatus. A third system – “Arrow 3” – is designed to thwart ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere, which could potentially carry nuclear warheads
The first live test is expected any day.
Bizarrely, some are suggesting Iron Dome and other missile defenses might be bad for Israel because it makes Israel less desperate for a peace deal:
But the problem of what to do with the people and the land Israel conquered in 1967 isn’t going away. In the near term, I very much hope Israel is able to stop the rocket attacks from Gaza. But in the long term, I hope the solution to Gaza will not be to simply build bigger and better walls — both on the ground and in the sky — while continuing to put off hard political decisions.
If only there were a magic wand to erase such foolishness.
Update — I knew the first test would be soon, I didn’t know it already had taken place. Via JPost:
Israel and the US in recent days successfully tested the David’s Sling defense system, designed to stop long-range rockets and cruise missiles, bringing the country a step closer to having an active defense shield against Hezbollah’s arsenal of projectiles.
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Comments
How can you take seriously logic that suggests that making yourself even marginally more secure is a bad thing??? You always have to look at the primary goals FIRST. Then you consider the unintended consequences. If you start on the opposite end and think, “Gee, well we shouldn’t do anything to impeded peace talks (that have never lasted) and then worry about defense…..”, any reasonable person knows where that will end up.
Even Homer Simpson would call this one out. Doh!
That logic formed one cornerstone of Democratic opposition to SDI in the 1980’s.
Israel is also developing, in conjunction with Acme Manufacturing, the Gaza-to-Gaza Defense Shield. Rather than merely shooting down Muslim missiles, this system causes the missiles to turn 180 degrees, returning from their launch sites, resulting in this,
http://www.marfdrat.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/wile-e-coyote.jpg
Some people think the lopsided death toll in these conflicts means a lot less sympathy for Israel, but I doubt that’s very accurate. Most rational people realize that if a country intentionally shoots rockets at another country, the fact that no one died in the receiving country hardly means they shouldn’t respond with force.
I posted this five days ago to the tip line….
Back in mid-June, during the great Paris weapons show, the Rafael pavilion was absolutely the busiest around, and everybody wanted to look at the new, exciting, Iron Dome system, the greatest achievement in rocket defense ever. But by the end of the show, Rafael hadn’t made a single sale. The Arrow sold well, other systems did great – Iron Dome wasn’t moving. So they contacted their big clients, the serious ones, and asked what gives. And those clients told them no one except Israel has any use for these things. Because in any normal, sane country, if some hooligans were to start targeting civilians with rockets – the army would go and kill them.
http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/analysis/the-morally-reprehensible-iron-dome-hamass-best-friend/2012/11/19/
I think that the Iron Dome is marvelous…and wrong-headed.
Being a radical (meaning “root”) thinker, I think you go to the most elemental solution of problems, and that would be the mistake of letting Hamas be Hamas…or anything but a smoking object lesson.
Get them out, away from Israel. Pressure their “brethren” in other Muslim nations to take them in.
There is nothing wrong with Gaza that an all-out attack on every possible military target, regardless of location, cannot fix. And with sufficient force that the target is guaranteed to be destroyed, again without any consideration of civilian casualties. This would result in 10’s of thousands of civilian casualties–maybe then the sick society that is Gaza would realize that waging constant war against Israel doesn’t work.
Israel needs to stop encouraging the use of human shields by concerning themselves with civilian (if indeed they are civilian) casualties.
I’ve been saying for years that the proper way to pacify the Gaza Strip is to go in with a ground invasion force and disarm them by confiscating any and all weapons.
That means door-to-door fighting, and killing anyone who resists (men, women, AND children, because we KNOW FOR A FACT that Hamas trains children to be soldiers in full violation of the Geneva Conventions). Resistance, in any way, shape or form means summary execution, right there on the spot.
If all the “civilized” nations want to scream about barbarism, they can be politely reminded that tolerating terrorists is bad policy, and moreover terrorists using human shields and raining down missiles on civilian populations are unworthy of support.
The follow up is that any future missile fired from Gaza is instantly met with a return missile which destroys the surrounding 1 MILE SQUARE CITY BLOCK.
Tell the Gaza population in advance that will be the Israeli response. Believe me. ONE. Just ONE time for Israel to actually kill a few THOUSAND civilians in exchange for the terrorists firing a missile from a populated location, and the civilian population of Gaza will turn on Hamas like a bunch of rabid dogs.
This is not a conflict that will be won by “playing nice.”
The problem is that they want to die. That gets them to paradise and the 72 virgins.
“There will never be peace until they love their children more than they hate us [Israel]” – Golda Meir
Don’t get me wrong. I am not opposed to killing them wherever they hide, I just don’t think that it will be a deterrent. Besides, most of the Gazans don’t have any way to fight against hamas. And hamas does run hospitals and gives them food. Sort of like what the USA is becoming.
That kind of logic will get you nowhere!!!!!
As a military person, I think what Israel needs, as part and parcel of Iron Dome/Magic Wand/Arrow 3 is a superior counter battery fire control system. For those unfamiliar with counter battery systems, they track incoming projectiles (as is currently done for defensive purposes), compute, based on trajectory (easy math), the launch point. Then they immediately launch return fire on that set of coordinates. Launch one and expect immediate incoming return fire.
The fact that the savages have placed launch sites in sensitive and otherwise protected areas serves to negate the legal, moral and ethical protections that a civilized society would give to those areas. The fact that the savages have no respect for cultural and societal norms is the reason that they – the savages – deserve no consideration.
“With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.”
– William Lloyd Garrison
ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς
I think we are at a point where Israel has no other choice but to go on the offensive. Years of defending themselves has only galvanized the world against them and this administration shows no signs of wanting to disrupt that sea of opinion – whether from the U.N. or simply individual nations. We would rather go along to get along now.
What you’re suggesting was done in 2006 when Israel was battling Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The whole world went hysterical when the return fire crashed down on Lebanese sheltering in a UN compound, as Hezbollah elements used the same compound only running some few metres from the confines to set up and fire their missiles at Israel.
I suppose people have seen the tweet by a Reuter’s twit on why if Iron Dome is successful does Israel have to attack the human shields, and the reply?
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/333933/dome-and-domer-mark-steyn
“If only there were a magic wand to erase such foolishness.”
You can’t fix stupid.
Call me clairvoyant (or just, Clair, for short), but in the not-too-distant future, I see lefty journalists wringing their hands and moaning about the disproportionate success of Israeli defensive missile interceptions.
If they want to get really serious, ya know what might work? Since “Gaza” was a part of Egypt, tell Egypt it’s theirs again, the occupants are Cairo’s responsibility, and for every rocket launched from Gaza Province into Israel, 4 or 5 Israeli ones will hit Cairo. They’ll stop at say, 50. 50 will be the mushroom kind.
I like it.
Although, I get the impression that is somewhat what was put on the table during the “negotiations” with Mohammad Morsi. Basically telling him that if he didn’t want Israel to crush Hamas and say to hell with the civilian population (which would cause an UPROAR in Egypt in the militant circles), that Morsi was now responsible for Hamas’ actions. If Morsi loses the support of those militants, expect him to go the way of Mubarak really, really quickly.
Israel can do a whole bunch of damage to Morsi by making him look totally ineffective at protecting the “ideological offshoot” of the Muslim Brotherhood that is Hamas.
And Egypt will say, as every other muslim country has said, “We don’t want ’em.”
ICT – While it would be a reasonable response in a reasonable world, we are not in such a place. The world – likely including the US – would condemn Israel for their “aggresive” response.
My question is what is reasonable? If I have the means to end the suffering of my people caused by external forces, am I not negligent if I do not exercise those means? I am no fan of “proportionate response” because it tends to be limited. Hit me one time and I will hit you back. But I will hit harder and more than I need to in order to send you the message that I will not tolerate your hitting. If you return, and decide to “equalize” the situation through the use of a “force multiplier”, expect that I will not respond in kind, but will step it up a few notches. Will it work? I don’t know. But I do know that one way or another, I will not be hit again without causing you grief and misery. And more than you cause me.
That should be Israel’s policy. They will be chastised in any case. Might as well make it worthwhile.
The problem is that the Liberal mindset has developed a concept which says “you shouldn’t respond with more force than necessary, because the other person possibly made a mistake in calculating your strength in response.” This mindset is responsible for a certain amount of impoliteness, because people mistake it as a license to get away with minor infractions and provocations and then claim victim-hood when the other party responds.
I don’t subscribe to that policy. I subscribe to the policy that says if you attack me with the intent to do me harm, I am going to put you into a state that the lesson is learned to not attack me again. If you should choose to attack me again, I will then put you into a state that you CANNOT attack me again, because it means you cannot be taught.
This is what the Israelis MUST do. As I have said before, and I’m sure I will have to repeat, ad nauseam: There is ONE rule in war. WIN.
Iran has been behind almost every bad thing that has come out of the Middle East since 1979. If you want a game changer then stop fighting with proxies and take out Iran.
I don’t mean stop their nuclear program. I mean destroy their military and their government and leave them a smouldering wasteland.
Then issue the equivalent of a western secular Fatwa against anyone calling for any of the goals of Radical Islam and declare all such people, regimes and states to be illegal and unacceptable and subject to destruction by any and all means.
Then ask whether the Middle East would like to make peace.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwhI7qdrsaA
In a sane world we wouldn’t have to be discussing this because the sane world would put an end to Islamic terrorism once and for all. Israel isn’t the problem, the Islamists are. Israel would live in peace if allowed. I don’t understand why the world stands by and watches the barbarism that takes place anywhere Islamists have a foothold. They can’t even get along with each other.
[…] Greatly Enjoy Living In Egypt…. Posted on November 25, 2012 1:30 pm by Bill Quick » Iron Dome’s big brother, Magic Wand – Le·gal In·sur·rec&mid… Bizarrely, some are suggesting Iron Dome and other missile defenses might be bad for Israel […]
I’d bet good money that Israel will devise a genuine force-field, of the Star Trek kind, which can deploy against any kind of incoming. At that point, what will the Muslims do? Whine, bitch, and moan about how Israel is only protecting Jewish homes from Islamic missiles leaving Muslims to be killed.
[…] Next Gen in missile defense, ” Magic Wand/David’s Sling” (Legal Insurrection) completed first test. This major advance in Israeli defense , it is offset however by the […]