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Many Israelis are complaining that
development of a, laser based anti-missile system, called THEL, which
was recently cancelled, could have been used to stop some of the
Hizbollah rockets coming out of Lebanon. Meanwhile, the American
partner in THEL development is now offering a smaller version,
Skyguard, for protecting commercial aircraft from portable
anti-aircraft missiles. The manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, originally
developed THEL (Tactical High Energy Laser) for combat situations.
Tests last year showed THEL was able to knock down barrages of incoming
mortar shells.
Israel was a partner in the development of THEL, which was
originally supposed to enter service in 2007. When THEL was cancelled
earlier this year, the laser still needed work, but the THEL radar was
already in good shape. In 2004, Israel used the THEL radar to detect
incoming Palestinian rockets fired from Gaza, and this provided an
opportunity to operate the radar under combat conditions.
The THEL system was designed to knock down larger, and better made,
rockets than the home made Palestinian Kassam rockets. In other words,
THEL would have been very useful knocking down the factory made rockets
Hizbollah has been firing at Israel over the last few weeks.
The THEL laser and radar system can track up to sixty targets
(mortar and artillery shells, rockets) at a time and fire on and
destroy these projectiles at a range of up to five kilometers. THEL can
destroy about a dozen targets a minute, at a cost of some $3,000 per
shot. Each THEL system (radar and laser) could thus cover about ten
kilometers of border. Most Hizbollah rockets were fired in groups of a
dozen or more, so THEL, if it was in the right place, could zap about
half of them. Of course, given how difficult THEL was to move,
Hizbollah would endeavor to fire their rockets over some other stretch
of border. The Israel-Lebanon border is 79 kilometers long.
It took nine years, and over a half a billion dollars, for American
and Israeli engineers to get as far as they did (one working prototype
system) with THEL. Aside from the systems size and cost, there's also
the problem of lasers being weakened by clouds, fog, mist or even
artificial smoke. For that reason, there's not a lot of enthusiasm for
proceeding right now on such a bulky and expensive system for use
against small rockets. But by the end of the decade, a smaller, and
cheaper, version will be more attractive, and more likely to be
purchased.
THEL is a bulky system, and not really mobile. Each system requires
half a dozen or more large tractor trailer trucks to carry the radar,
fuel supplies and laser. A new version, the MTHEL (Mobile Tactical
High-Energy Laser) was designed (using three tractor-trailers) and was
tested. Engineers believe that MTHEL could be ready for battlefield use
in about six years, at a cost of another billion dollars. In another
few years, engineers believe they could create a MTHEL that could fit
in a hummer.
The costs of THEL and MTHEL were so high, that both the American
and Israeli governments pulled their support earlier this year. The
manufacturer put some of their own money into the project and came up
with Skyguard. This is basically THEL, which is actually suited for
defending an airport against someone using portable anti-aircraft
missiles (like Stinger, or the Russian made SA-7) to attack aircraft
landing or taking off. Skyguard would be cheaper than equipping
thousands of aircraft with individual anti-missile systems. But first,
THEL has to prove that it is reliable enough to stay on-line 24/7 (or
nearly so), and act effectively if there is ever an attack. No one has
yet tried using these missiles in the United States, but it has
happened elsewhere, especially in Africa.
The first Skyguard system would cost about $150 million, with
subsequent ones costing about 70 percent less. Skyguard will also be
able to handle rockets, artillery projectiles, mortars, unmanned aerial
vehicles and cruise missiles. In other words, if you had a billion
dollars to spare, you might be able to get a Skyguard system to defend
northern Israel from rockets fired from Lebanon. Maybe. THEL is another
example of technology that got out of the lab before it was ready to
survive in the wild.
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