Israel modernizes David's Sling

David’s Sling, Israel’s middle tier of air defense, has successfully shot down new and evolving threats, including rockets, cruise missiles, other missiles, and drones in a series of live-fire exercises, the Israeli Defense Ministry said.

"These successful tests mark another major enhancement to Israel's multi-layered air and missile defense architecture that performed exceptionally during Israel's war," the statement reads.

David’s Sling, manufactured by Rafael, has been in operational use for years. Originally developed to shoot down cruise missiles, which fly in a more line-drive fashion, David’s Sling has evolved to shoot down any of the short-, medium-, or long-range aerial threats Israel faces. Iron Dome shoots down rockets, which fly in a predictable arch.

The David’s Sling system, specifically designed to counter various threats like rockets, missiles, cruise missiles, aircraft, and UAVs, constitutes a central defensive layer within Israel’s comprehensive multilayered air- and missile-defense architecture, which also includes the Arrow weapon system, the Iron Dome Defense system, and the near-future Iron Beam system.