U.S. gives Israel $155 million for missile defense system

The United States has given Israel $155 million to develop an advanced missile interception system, Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s office said in a statement on late last week. The money, which a joint House-Senate committee approved on Wednesday, will help advance the development of a multilayered antimissile system that Barak presented to his U.S. counterpart Robert Gates in Washington last month, the statement said. The system, dubbed David’s Sling, is intended to counter projectiles ranging from rudimentary rockets of the sort frequently used by Gaza militants to long-range missiles such as those in the arsenal of Iran and Syria. Israel has already successfully tested and deployed its Arrow antimissile system, jointly developed with the United States, which is said to be able to deflect most missile strikes against Israel.

Globes’s Ran Dagoni reports that the sum of $155 million to be given to Israel for the missile defense development program is $17 million more than the $138 allocated for that purpose in 2007, and $75 more than what the Bush administration had in mind. The aid package, part of the 2008 defense bill, will be presented to Bush for signature before the end of the month. Most of the money — $98 million — will be directed toward continuing development of the Arrow system, with $37 million going toward joint production of the Arrow by Boeing and $61 million for continuing development work. The package also contains $37 million for developing the David’s Sling system — a system aimed to intercept short range rockets (40-250 km in range). Experts say that the system will be operational in about six years. The other $20 million in the package will be devoted to research and development of a system to intercept missile at high altitude.