David’s Sling Proves It Can Handle a Wide Range of Threats

By Hugh Fitzgerald | August 7, 2025

David’s Sling Weapons System Stunner Missile intercepts target during inaugural flight test.  (Photo by United States Missile Defense Agency – http://www.mda.mil/news/gallery_internationalcoop_davidssling.html, Public Domain, Wikipedia)

The Israeli defense industry, led by the big three — Rafael, Elbit, and Israel Aircraft Industries — keeps on coming up with new weapons, such as the laser-based anti-missile weapon, the Iron Beam, that will cost only a few dollars as compared to the tens of thousands for the Iron Dome that does the same thing, and in improving those it already possesses. Now Rafael’s David’s Sling, an air and missile defense system, that has lately been improved, has been tested and managed to surpass all expectations in shooting down short, medium, and long-range missiles, including ballistic missiles. It does so at a fraction of the cost of either the Arrow 2, used to shoot down ballistic missiles, or the Iron Dome, used to shoot down short-range rockets.

More on the new and improved David’s Sling can be found here: “WATCH: David’s Sling shoots down a range of threats, including ballistic missiles,” by Yonah Jeremy Bob, Jerusalem Post, August 4, 2025:

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 Defense Ministry said Monday.

David’s Sling, manufactured by Rafael, has been in operational use for years, including in the Israel-Hamas War and to defend against threats from Iran and Hezbollah.

According to Rafael’s website, David’s Sling combines “innovative steering control, multi-propulsion, and an advanced seeker, it defeats high-volume asymmetric threats, including tactical ballistic missiles and large-caliber rockets.”

Using David’s Sling to shoot down ballistic missiles takes some of the pressure and heavy cost off of the Arrow 3, which is produced by Israel Aerospace Industries but is far more expensive.

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,” the Defense Ministry said….

With its now-proven ability to shoot down virtually every kind of enemy rocket and missile, at a fraction of the cost of other defensive weapons in Israel’s armory, the Arrow-2 will now be a major weapon deployed by the IDF. And with the Iron Beam, a laser-based technology that costs a few dollars, rather than the tens of thousands that each Iron Dome costs, the IDF will be saving enormous sums for the same interceptions.

It’s a remarkable feat, by tiny Israel, that now has a multi-tiered defensive missile system that is the equal, if not the superior, to those of all other militaries.

The King James Bible says that the “God of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.” Nor do the weapons scientists at Rafael, Elbit and Israel Aerospace Industries.