https://sputnikglobe.com/20231113/davids-sling-may-comfort-finns-psychologically-wont-actually-protect-nordic-nation-1114928916.html
David’s Sling May Comfort Finns ‘Psychologically’, Won’t Actually Protect Nordic Nation
David’s Sling May Comfort Finns ‘Psychologically’, Won’t Actually Protect Nordic Nation
Sputnik International
Israel has penned a €317 million agreement with Finland on the sale of its David’s Sling missile defense system to Helsinki. Vladimir Prokhvatilov, a senior research fellow at Russia’s Academy of Military Sciences, explains why the David’s Sling will have no hope of actually protecting Finland’s air space in the event of war.
2023-11-13T16:47+0000
2023-11-13T16:47+0000
2023-11-13T18:43+0000
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Recently-christened NATO bloc member Finland will be the first foreign nation to get David’s Sling, a cutting edge missile defense system developed jointly by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and US defense giant Raytheon.Israeli Defense Ministry Director General Eyal Zamir hailed the deal as a “historic agreement,” while his ministry stressed that “the David’s Sling system has demonstrated very high-performance capabilities in war, in a variety of challenging scenarios.”Finland formally requested to purchase the Israeli-made missile defense system in April, with the agreement requiring the United States to sign off on the sale due to Raytheon’s work developing the sensitive military technology.The David’s Sling is a medium-range surface-to-air anti-ballistic missile first introduced into service with the Israeli military in 2017. The system consists of ground launchers firing $1 million apiece two-stage maneuverable interceptor missiles containing hit-to-kill kinetic warheads and which are capable of accelerating to speeds up to Mach 7.5. The David’s Sling has a reported operational range of between 40 and 300 km.The missile defense system is the middle tier in a series of other interceptor systems in Israel’s multilayered air and missile defense arsenal, which also includes the shorter-range Iron Dome, designed to take on simple, militia-launched missiles at lower altitudes, and the Arrow series of long-range interceptors, which can target enemy ballistic missiles in space. Israel reported on an Arrow missile’s first-ever intercept of a live enemy missile fired by the Houthis in space last week.The David’s Sling was reportedly deployed against Hamas last month, although Israeli officials have remained tight-lipped on the system’s possible targets (Hamas’s missile and rocket arsenal is known to cost between $300 and $3,600 apiece, and consists almost entirely of short-range projectiles made of water pipes welded together at undisclosed locations inside Gaza).Before that, a David’s Sling interceptor was reportedly used this past May to help shoot down a Hamas rocket barrage. The first-ever use of David’s Sling interceptors took place in July 2018, when they were fired at a pair of Tochka-U missiles being used by Syrian forces against terrorist targets. Russian media citing Israeli and Iranian sources indicated at the time that one of the interceptors sent to target the Tochka-Us fell inside Syria intact, with the other self-destructing after it was determined the Syrian missiles were not aimed at targets in Israel.David’s Sling as Psychological Comfort Missile?The David’s Sling may seem like a sound investment for Finland if Helsinki from a psychological standpoint, but not if the Finnish military actually wants to defend itself in conditions of modern, high intensity warfare, says Russian Academy of Military Sciences senior research fellow Vladimir Prokhvatilov.“A single David’s Sling interceptor missiles costs $1 million. Generally accepted estimates suggest that attacking one enemy missile requires the use of two anti-missile missiles,” Prokhvatilov told Sputnik.That means if and when Finland gets its two-to-three battalions’ worth of interceptors, they will easily overwhelmed by cheap ballistic missiles and drones designed to overwhelm the country’s air defenses, as demonstrated by Israel’s air defenses during the opening stage of the ongoing war with Hamas.“Finland’s purchase of the David’s Sling makes no sense,” the military expert said, pointing out that while it provide Finns with the “psychological sense of protection,” this feeling will quickly dissipate in the event of a major conflagration, just as happened to the Israelis when the fighting with Hamas and Hezbollah began.What’s more, Prokhvatilov said, Israel’s military-industrial complex simply doesn’t have the production capacity to provide Finland with the numbers of missile defense systems the Nordic Nation would actually need to have a hope of defending itself, given Tel Aviv’s own demonstrated reliance on US arms aid.Even if Finland is armed with a dozen battalions of Western missile defense systems, including David’s Sling and arms from NATO countries, they will not be able to protect the country in conditions of medium or high-intensity modern warfare, Prokhvatilov said. “In the event of a high-intensity conflict, they will all be suppressed by cheap attack drones,” the observer stressed.Prokhvatilov, an expert on trends in the US defense industry, said that the state is pressuring its’ half a dozen or so weapons maker giants, including Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, to switch from massive spending on items like destroyers, F-35 jets and supercarriers to cheaper systems, which can be deployed en masse to overwhelm the opponent, and quickly replenished. This isn’t an easy or cheap process, but signals the shifting nation of modern warfare, he said.In other words, even “if the collective West combines their resources and supplies Finland with a couple dozen modern missile defense systems, they will not work. They will be just as successfully overwhelmed as Israel’s air defense system is right now,” Prokhvatilov summarized.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231112/israeli-ministry-of-defense-concludes-deal-to-sell-davids-sling-air-defense-system-to-finland--1114896937.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231105/israel-boasts-destruction-of-houthi-ballistic-cruise-missiles-in-space-using-f-35s--videos-1114748927.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231021/what-missiles-does-iron-dome-use-1114364209.html
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David’s Sling May Comfort Finns ‘Psychologically’, Won’t Actually Protect Nordic Nation
16:47 GMT 13.11.2023 (Updated: 18:43 GMT 13.11.2023) Israel has penned a €317 million agreement with Finland on the sale of its David’s Sling missile defense system to Helsinki. Vladimir Prokhvatilov, a senior research fellow at Russia’s Academy of Military Sciences, explains why the David’s Sling will have no hope of actually protecting Finland’s air space in the event of war.
Recently-christened NATO bloc member Finland will be the first foreign nation to get David’s Sling, a cutting edge missile defense system developed jointly by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and US defense giant Raytheon.
“David’s Sling is one of the most advanced systems in the world for intercepting ballistic missiles, cruise missile, aircraft and drone,” the Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement after a signing ceremony at its HQ on Sunday attended by Israeli officials and Finland’s ambassador to Israel.
Israeli Defense Ministry Director General Eyal Zamir hailed the deal as a “historic agreement,” while his ministry stressed that “the David’s Sling system has demonstrated very high-performance capabilities in war, in a variety of challenging scenarios.”
Finland formally requested to purchase the Israeli-made missile defense system in April, with the agreement requiring the United States to sign off on the sale due to Raytheon’s work developing the sensitive military technology.
12 November 2023, 08:26 GMT
The David’s Sling is a medium-range surface-to-air anti-ballistic missile first introduced into service with the Israeli military
in 2017. The system consists of ground launchers firing $1 million apiece two-stage maneuverable interceptor missiles containing hit-to-kill kinetic warheads and which are capable of accelerating to speeds up to Mach 7.5. The David’s Sling has a reported operational range of between 40 and 300 km.
The missile defense system is the middle tier in a series of other interceptor systems in Israel’s multilayered air and missile defense arsenal, which also includes the shorter-range Iron Dome, designed to take on simple, militia-launched missiles at lower altitudes, and the Arrow series of long-range interceptors, which can target enemy ballistic missiles in space. Israel
reported on an Arrow missile’s first-ever intercept of a live enemy missile fired by the Houthis in space last week.
The David’s Sling was
reportedly deployed against Hamas last month, although Israeli officials have remained tight-lipped on the system’s possible targets (Hamas’s missile and rocket arsenal is known to cost between $300 and $3,600 apiece, and consists almost entirely of short-range projectiles made of water pipes welded together at undisclosed locations inside Gaza).
Before that, a David’s Sling interceptor was reportedly used this past May
to help shoot down a Hamas rocket barrage. The first-ever use of David’s Sling interceptors took place in July 2018, when they were fired at a pair of Tochka-U missiles being used by Syrian forces against terrorist targets. Russian media
citing Israeli and Iranian sources indicated at the time that one of the interceptors sent to target the Tochka-Us fell inside Syria intact, with the other self-destructing after it was determined the Syrian missiles were not aimed at targets in Israel.
5 November 2023, 19:13 GMT
David’s Sling as Psychological Comfort Missile?
The David’s Sling may seem like a sound investment for Finland if Helsinki from a psychological standpoint, but not if the Finnish military actually wants to defend itself in conditions of modern, high intensity warfare, says Russian Academy of Military Sciences senior research fellow Vladimir Prokhvatilov.
“A single David’s Sling interceptor missiles costs $1 million. Generally accepted estimates suggest that attacking one enemy missile requires the use of two anti-missile missiles,” Prokhvatilov told Sputnik.
That means if and when Finland gets its two-to-three battalions’ worth of interceptors, they will easily overwhelmed by cheap ballistic missiles and drones designed to overwhelm the country’s air defenses, as demonstrated by Israel’s air defenses during the opening stage of the ongoing war with Hamas.
“By definition, a bunch of cheap missiles can disable any modern air defense system – be it an S-500, a Patriot, or a David’s Sling. If these missiles hit the systems’ locator, nothing will work,” Prokhvatilov stressed. “So if we’re talking about whether Finland will be able to defend itself with the help of Israeli missile defense system, the answer is no, it will not be able to,” the observer noted.
“Finland’s purchase of the David’s Sling makes no sense,” the military expert said, pointing out that while it provide Finns with the “psychological sense of protection,” this feeling will quickly dissipate in the event of a major conflagration, just as happened to the Israelis when the fighting with Hamas and Hezbollah began.
What’s more, Prokhvatilov said, Israel’s military-industrial complex simply doesn’t have the production capacity to provide Finland with the numbers of missile defense systems the Nordic Nation would actually need to have a hope of defending itself, given Tel Aviv’s own demonstrated reliance on US arms aid.
21 October 2023, 16:03 GMT
Even if Finland is armed with a dozen battalions of Western missile defense systems, including David’s Sling and arms from NATO countries, they will not be able to protect the country in conditions of medium or high-intensity modern warfare, Prokhvatilov said. “In the event of a high-intensity conflict, they will all be suppressed by cheap attack drones,” the observer stressed.
Prokhvatilov, an expert on trends in the US defense industry, said that the state is pressuring its’ half a dozen or so weapons maker giants, including Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, to switch from massive spending on items like destroyers, F-35 jets and supercarriers to cheaper systems, which can be deployed en masse to overwhelm the opponent, and quickly replenished. This isn’t an easy or cheap process, but signals the shifting nation of modern warfare, he said.
“Modern warfare is going through a transitional stage. There has been a revolution in military affairs, brought about by operations in Ukraine,” where reconnaissance and strike drones and long-range cruise missiles have come to dominate the battlefields, the observer stressed.
In other words, even “if the collective West combines their resources and supplies Finland with a couple dozen modern missile defense systems, they will not work. They will be just as successfully overwhelmed as Israel’s air defense system is right now,” Prokhvatilov summarized.
