Like Iron Dome, Israel’s Iron Beam Is Another Super Efficient Air Defense System
Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’ missile defense system has
been in the limelight in the recent clashes with Palestine. The Jewish nation
has another lethal weapon in its arsenal, ‘Iron Beam’, that has been designed
for future warfare.
The Iron Dome was hailed as “god’s grace” for intercepting hundreds of rockets fired by Hamas recently. The weapon is very effective in counter rocket, artillery, and mortar) roles, with a success rate of over 90%. No other system in the world has ever been tested so intensely and showed such a success rate.
However, Israel continues to invest in the research
and development of newer weapons to counter future challenges. Among them is a
laser weapon that can shoot down incoming missiles as a close-range air defense
system.
Iron
Beam, as it is called, comes with two major developments for the Israeli
Defense Forces. Primarily, the system is designed to destroy short range
rockets, artillery, and mortar bombs, having a range of up to 7 kilometers, too
close for the Iron Dome system to intercept projectiles effectively.
There is also a possibility that
Iron Beam would serve as the last tier of a layered air defense system to
neutralize the threats that managed to penetrate the Iron Dome and other
successive layers.
Although the Iron Beam can also
be used as a stand-alone system, this could be installed on vital installations
and city centers to secure much populated neighborhoods.
The Iron Beam can target small
unmanned aerial vehicles that have been used by Israel’s enemies to target
strategic installations.
This system uses a fiber laser to
destroy an airborne target within 4 to 5 seconds of firing. Whether acting as a
stand alone system or with external cueing as part of an air-defense system, a
threat is detected by a surveillance system and tracked by vehicle platforms in
order to engage.
US Military Base In India, After
QUAD Pact, Will Modi Invite The US Navy To Andaman Islands?
America is Hunting for More Military Bases to
Cripple China; India could be One of the Options”.
Since the US Navy is said to be planning to deploy
60 percent of its surface ships in the Indo Pacific, it wants safe territories
in or the adjoining Arabian Sea, Andaman & Nicobar, and the Bay of Bengal
for refueling and other logistic support.
In fact, the Pentagon has been looking for base
opportunities in the Indo Pacific since 2004.
As over the last 20 years in the sphere of
defense, India and the United States have come a long way – from signing the
New Framework for Defense Cooperation in June 2005 to become “major defense
partners” in 2016, conducting the largest number of peace time military
exercises bilaterally every year (nearly 70), and concluding the three “basic
agreements” of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA),
Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) and the Basic
Exchange &Cooperation Agreement (BECA) – it is argued that there are merits
in the idea of India granting the US some base facilities.
The US is now India’s natural ally in protecting
their common interests against China, “it is time to take the relationship to
the next level and that means providing the US with a military base which would
allow the US Navy to have a chokepoint to the Strait of Malacca, thereby
putting pressure on Chinese maritime assets and its oil supply routes.”
Such an arrangement would also convince Washington
that New Delhi is not just about long winded speeches followed up by little
substantive measures but is actually willing to help maintain the Asian
security system” in the wake of the increasing acceptance of the geopolitical
concept of “Indo Pacific” and the QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) of the
two countries along with Japan and Australia.
Aevum announces all in one drone for satellite
launches, cargo delivery and surveillance
A large unmanned aircraft from Aevum that can
launch small rockets while flying will also be able to deliver cargo and host
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance payloads.
Founded in 2016, the company only recently came out
of stealth mode to reveal its designs for the Ravan X drone, an 80 foot
aircraft that can launch small payloads into low Earth orbit from midair. Aevum
labels Ravan X as the largest drone in the world by mass, with a gross takeoff
weight of 55,000 pounds. But the company said it has secured a new patent that
will allow it to rapidly reconfigure its drone for multiple missions, including
autonomously delivering cargo or carrying sensor payloads.
This multipurpose drone could be a drastic
change from single use or single mission drones that the military has typically
invested in. Skylus compared Ravan X to an RQ 4 Global Hawk, used for intelligence
surveillance and reconnaissance ISR Missions.
Ravan X will be able to carry sensor payloads,
but it can also be rapidly reconfigured for other missions, including
delivering cargo to a forward operating base. The ability for the drone to land
on a 1 mile runway or even flat farmland expands the possibilities for cargo
delivery to hard to reach places.
Ravan X first mission will be the Space
Force’s ASLON 45 mission, a $5 million contract to test the company’s ability
to launch a payload in 24 hours or less.
