There was a lot of rejoicing after the successful test firing of the David's Sling mid-range missile defense system in the Rafael testing range in the Negev recently. After years of development, accompanied by a long list of obstacles and budgetary concerns, the incoming missile was successfully intercepted, as were all the doubts. If everything goes according to plan from here on in, David's Sling will become operational in two years, joining the Arrow (long-range) and the Iron Dome (short-range, though recent upgrades have vastly increased the range this system is able to intercept) in the active defense of Israel's skies. According to the new plan currently being formulated by the Israel Air Force, when all the anti-missile systems are fully operational Israel will have a national missile interception center that will locate incoming projectiles and assign the interception to the appropriate defense system. With this multi-system center in place, Israel is supposed to be fully protected from any missile threat, rendering the main weapon our enemies use against us effectively useless. It wasn't a coincidence that the report of the successful David's Sling test emerged this week it was timed to come out after the completion of Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza, but before the operation is forgotten. The defense establishment, with its wily ways, knows that in light of the impressive interceptions displayed by Iron Dome during the recent fighting, considering the amount of lives it saved, it will be hard to say no to the budgetary demands of the continued development of the David's Sling system. Before Operation Pillar of Defense there was an ongoing ritual between defense officials and treasury officials, with the defense establishment seeking government funds on top of the allocated defense budget and the treasury insisting that the funds must come from within the budget. In the end, the rich uncle from America provided most of the funding. Now, there is no way that the government will refuse to sign the checks, because a government that refuses to invest in David's Sling is a government that won't be able to defend Israel from the M600 missiles coming in from Lebanon in three years time. In this regard, this is a maturity test not just for the operational capabilities of the military (which it has passed, at least in the testing phase), but also a test of national decision making. If this truly is a necessary project, it must be given the highest priority. The math is simple: money invested today means lives saved tomorrow.
