Boaz Levy, CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), said that they are closely following the news about the US planned “Golden Dome” missile shield architecture, which aims to intercept even intercontinental missiles. Levy said IAI executives hope that defence leaders running the project will evaluate the company’s Arrow missile interceptor technology for both tiers.
Speaking to Defence News at the US Army Association conference in Washington earlier this month, Levy said that his expectations go beyond just the ground-based capabilities of the current Arrow-3 system.
Arrow-3 could be a space-based interceptor
Levy, with some “adaptations” of the Israeli system He suggested that it could also be used for the space-based component of the Golden Dome. This claim significantly increases the potential of the system:
Space-Based Role: Arrow-3 can meet the requirements of a number of so-called kill vehicles orbiting the Earth in space and ready to strike in the acceleration phase of the flight of ballistic missiles.
Proven Success: The Arrow-3, jointly developed by Israel and the United States, has been successful in intercepting Houthi and Iranian ballistic missiles and has proven its ability to defend an area the size of Israel.
Challenges of the Golden Dome Project and Artificial Intelligence Solutions
The Golden Dome, described by the Trump administration and planned to be completed in three years with a budget of 175 billion dollars, aims to establish an impenetrable umbrella against Russia and China’s nuclear-tipped intercontinental missiles.
However, this ambitious project has been criticised by critics as doomed to failure due to its high budget and short timeline. According to a report in The Washington Post, fielding a sufficient number of space-based interceptor missiles, especially those capable of intercepting enemy missiles in mid-air, poses a major engineering and funding challenge.
Levy acknowledged these challenges, saying, “This still needs to be done for the first time. Technically, this is possible, but it would take more time compared to a more familiar task, such as integrating ground-based interceptors that shoot down incoming missiles along the flight path in space,” he said.
IAI is preparing upgrades that will enable the Arrow-3 and planned Arrow-4 and Arrow-5 iterations to more intelligently distinguish which objects pose a threat during critical engagement. In the event of a salvo launch of hundreds of missiles, object recognition algorithms combined with artificial intelligence (AI) will play a vital role in distinguishing between warheads and harmless missile fragments that need to be engaged, Levy said.
