美防务快讯3月12日讯

在防空反导激光武器发展上，特别是高能电子激光武器方面，以色列正在寻求美国资金与技术支持。目前，以色列有两家公司在引领激光武器的发展。拉斐尔公司研制地基激光武器，样机已达到“100千瓦”级。埃尔比特公司研制机载激光武器，初始试验可能选择有人飞机作机载平台，之后再向无人机载平台转化，可能选择赫尔墨斯900无人机作载机。以色列计划2021年晚些时候进行演示试验。2020年，以色列国防研究与发展局局长雅尼夫·罗特姆准将曾暗示，该国在激光武器领域已秘密取得技术突破，宣称以色列正在步入海陆空能量战的新时代。

Israel Seeks US Help On Lasers

After years of favoring missiles, Israel is back in the laser business, with Rafael developing a ground-based 100-kW-class weapon and Elbit an airborne one.

By   ARIE EGOZIon March 12, 2021 BreakingDefense

THEL – the Tactical High-Energy Laser – was the last big US-Israel laser project, cancelled in 2005.

TEL AVIV: The Israeli Defense Ministry is seeking US funding and expertise for its air and missile defense lasers, especially in the generation of electrical power. Israel’s current prototypes have achieved an output beam of “almost” 100 kilowatts, but the US is already exploring 300-kW weapons capable of killing cruise missiles.

Tel Aviv soured on missile defense lasers after the US-Israeli Nautilus project, also known as the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), a bulky weapon which was cancelled in 2005 after a decade in development. But THEL – like its contemporary, the US Airborne Laser – was what’s called a chemical laser, needing large tanks of toxic chemicals to generate power. Modern lasers rely on electrical generators, making them much less hazardous.

So the Ministry of Defense has two of its leading contractors at work: Rafael is developing a ground-based laser, Elbit an airborne one. Elbit’s initial testing will probably occur on a manned aircraft, but then the laser will graduate to a drone, probably a variant of the Hermes-900, which has the payload – 350 kg (770 lbs)— and the endurance – up to 36 hours aloft – for long patrols awaiting an enemy missile or rocket attack. Demonstrations are planned for later this year.

Yes, Israel already has a multi-layered missile defense system: the famous Iron Dome (also in US service) to shoot down rockets and some cruise missiles, David’s Sling against cruise missiles and some ballistic missiles, and Arrow against ballistic missiles – potentially hypersonic ones as well with the planned Arrow-4 upgrade. But all three tiers rely on shooting down an incoming missile, rocket, or mortar round with an interceptor missile, and interceptors are expensive. One Israeli estimate says stopping an all-out rocket barrage would require 30,000 Iron Dome interceptors worth billions of dollars.

By contrast, a modern laser weapon can keep firing indefinitely as long as it has electrical power, never running out of ammunition. While laser beams won’t replace physical interceptors – they have problems in heavy rain, for instance – they could add a valuable extra layer of defense. The Rafael and Elbit lasers, for instance, are currently seen as complementary to Iron Dome.

What’s more, the Israeli Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) has hinted at classified technical breakthroughs in the field of lasers, specifically to counter drones, rockets, artillery shells, mortars, and anti-tank guided missiles. In a 2020 announcement, DDR&D director Brig. Gen. Yaniv Rotem said that Israel is entering a new age of energy warfare in the air, land and sea.

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