David's Sling Missile Defense Ready for 2016 Deployment to Israel

Sputnik News

21:39 21.12.2015(updated 21:40 21.12.2015)

The US military completed the final milestone before authorizing delivery of an operational missile defense against large caliber rockets to Israel, the US Department of Defense announced in a news release on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The Defense Department explained that the Stunner interceptor was successfully launched, performed all flight phases, and engaged the target as planned.

'This test series, designated David's Sling Test-4 (DST-4), was the fourth series of tests of the David's Sling Weapon System and the final milestone before declaring delivery of an operational system to the Israeli Air Force in 2016,' the release said.

'Preliminary analysis indicates that test objectives were successfully achieved,' it added.

The weapon is a central part of Israel's multi-layer missile defense system, which also includes the operational Iron Dome and Arrow-2 and the Arrow-3, now under development.

The US Missile Defense Agency and the Israeli Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) jointly conducted the latest tests at a range in southern Israel, according to the release.

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