November
26, 2006: Israel is urgently trying to get their hands on an aid defense system
that will knock down the home-made Kassam rockets Palestinians are firing from
Gaza into southern Israel. So far, the biggest obstacle has been the poor
construction quality of the Kassam rockets, and the resulting erratic flight
path that misleads most radar systems designed to spot and predict the path of
rockets and artillery shells. Professionally made projectiles are more
accurate, and fly a more predictable path, which makes interception more
likely. The two solutions the Israelis thought might work, a U.S. adaptation of
their Phalanx naval 20mm autocannon (also available with 35mm cannon), or a
laser weapon Israel has invested a lot of money in, both worked against
conventional artillery, mortar and rocket projectiles, but have trouble with
the erratic Kassams. Moreover, the laser weapon is degraded by dust and sand
clouds, two common weather conditions in southern Israel.
As
long as Israel cannot come up with an air-defense weapon to knock down the
Kassam's they have to continue sending troops, and artillery fire, into Gaza to
discourage the Kassam fire. This causes diplomatic problems, as the Europeans
tend to be pro-Palestinian, and accuse the Israelis of war crimes for trying to
take out the Palestinian Kassam launch crews.
