Israel’s IAI shoots for land-based, space-based Golden Dome business

WASHINGTON — Executives at Israel Aerospace Industries are awaiting news on the U.S. Golden Dome missile shield architecture, hoping that defense leaders here will consider the company’s Arrow interceptor technology for two layers of the project, according to IAI chief executive Boaz Levy.

The hopes extend beyond the land-based capabilities of the currently fielded Arrow-3, which could be employed roughly as-is, Levy told Defense News in an interview at the Association of the United States Army annual conference in Washington earlier this month.

With some “adaptation,” the Israeli system could also be made to meet the requirements of a series of so-called kill vehicles orbiting Earth in space, ready to pounce on ballistic missiles during the boost phase of their flight, Levy said.

The Arrow-3 system is a co-development between Israel and the United States. Israeli officials have pointed to intercepts of Houthi and Iranian ballistic missiles as proof that the system works to adequately defend a territory the size of Israel.

The Trump administration’s Golden Dome idea is a different beast altogether, however. Pegged a $175 billion dollars and to be completed within three years, President Donald Trump has portrayed it as an impenetrable umbrella that would reliably protect the entirety of the United States against intercontinental missiles from anyone, including nuclear-armed rivals Russia and China.

Critics have said the project is doomed to fail under the prescribed budget and timing objectives. In particular, a major engineering and funding challenge lies in fielding a sufficient amount of space-based interceptors capable of catching enemy missiles on their way up, according to a report in The Washington Post .

Levy acknowledged that many questions remain on that front. “It still needs to be done for the first time,” he said.

“Technically, it’s feasible, but it will take more time,” Levy said, compared to the more familiar task of integrating land-base interceptors that hit incoming missiles during their flight path through space.

The company is preparing upgrades to the Arrow-3 system, and iterations 4 and 5 later on, that would make the system smarter in discerning which objects actually pose threats during that crucial engagement sequence.

As missiles fired in salvos of hundreds break up in space and release their warhead payloads, there could be thousands of objects floating around at the same time, according to Levy. Object recognition algorithms fused with artificial intelligence will get better over time in discerning between warheads that must be engaged, and missile parts that could be allowed to land on Earth far away from populated areas, he said.

Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.

华盛顿——据以色列航空航天工业公司首席执行官博阿兹·莱维称，该公司高管正在等待美国“金穹顶”导弹防御系统架构的消息，希望美国国防领导人能够考虑将该公司的“箭”式拦截器技术用于该项目的两层防御。

莱维本月早些时候在华盛顿举行的美国陆军协会年会上接受《防务新闻》采访时表示，希望不仅限于目前已部署的 Arrow-3 的陆基作战能力，Arrow-3 可以大致按原样使用。

莱维表示，经过一些“调整”，以色列的这套系统也可以满足一系列所谓的“杀伤飞行器”的要求，这些飞行器在地球轨道上运行，随时准备在弹道导弹的助推阶段将其拦截。

“箭-3”系统是以色列和美国联合研制的。以色列官员指出，拦截胡塞武装和伊朗弹道导弹的行动证明，该系统能够有效防御以色列国土面积相当的区域。

然而，特朗普政府的“金穹顶”计划则完全不同。该计划耗资1750亿美元，将在三年内完工。唐纳德·特朗普总统将其描绘成一张坚不可摧的保护伞，能够可靠地保护美国全境免受任何国家的洲际导弹攻击，包括拥有核武器的竞争对手俄罗斯和中国。

批评人士指出，按照既定的预算和时间目标，该项目注定失败。《华盛顿邮报》报道称，其中一项重大的工程和资金挑战在于如何部署足够数量的天基拦截器，以便在敌方导弹升空时将其拦截。

莱维承认，这方面仍有很多问题悬而未决。“这方面还需要进行首次尝试，”他说。

“从技术上讲，这是可行的，但这需要更多的时间，”莱维说，相比之下，整合陆基拦截器以在来袭导弹飞越太空的过程中将其拦截这项更为熟悉的任务则要困难得多。

该公司正在准备对 Arrow-3 系统进行升级，并在之后推出第 4 代和第 5 代，这将使该系统在关键的交战过程中能够更智能地辨别哪些物体真正构成威胁。

莱维表示，当数百枚导弹齐射进入太空并解体释放弹头时，可能会同时有数千个物体漂浮在太空中。他说，随着时间的推移，融合了人工智能的物体识别算法将越来越擅长区分必须拦截的弹头和可以允许其落在远离人口稠密地区的地球上的导弹碎片。

塞巴斯蒂安·斯普伦格是《防务新闻》欧洲版副主编，负责报道该地区的防务市场状况，以及美欧在防务和全球安全领域的合作和多国投资。此前，他曾担任《防务新闻》执行主编。他现居德国科隆。