Land-Based SM-3s for Israel?
Related Stories: ABM, Americas - USA, Middle East - Israel, Raytheon, Rumours
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Aviation Week reports that the US Missile Defense Agency is considering a land-based variant of the SM-3 Standard missile – largely due to specific requests from Israel.
“SM-3 prime contractor Raytheon is examining a range of options—including a moveable, but not highly mobile, system that could fill Israel’s needs. Very few modifications would be needed for the missile and some tweaks would be required in the command and control system. The system would employ the same vertical launch modules, in an eight-pack configuration, used in the Aegis ship-based system.”
Israel currently fields the medium range Arrow-2 land-based ABM system, supplemented by Patriot missiles for point defense. The Arrow has performed well in tests, however, and an order for more was placed as recently as February 2008. What could Israel’s rationale be?...
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Several possibilities exist that would allow Israel to keep its Arrow system as an active program, and still deploy the SM-3s.
For one thing, Israel’s new LCS-I frigates will have the ability to fire SM-3 missiles. They would need to link to an ABM radar for guidance, however, unless their SPY-1F radars are modified for an ABM role. SPY-1F radars have yet to be modified in this way, unlike their larger and more powerful SPY-1D cousins. In contrast, Israel already fields ABM-capable land radars like its “Green Pine” system. Linkage of the missile’s guidance to those kinds of land platforms, however, would involve many of the same modifications required by a fully land-launched and controlled SM-3.
Second, the SM-3 boats a range about 5x longer than the Arrow, at 300 miles vs. 50-60 miles. A tripartite system of SM-3, Arrow-2, and Patriot missiles would effectively cover the 3 layered tiers required by a country Israel’s size: national defense/ first line of defense, defense of key regions/ second shot, and defense of specific sites/ final attempt.
Finally, the SM-3 is an active production item for the USA and Japan, which leverages the infrustrature created by a large-scale, full-rate production set of programs. This means that SM-3s can be produced far faster than additional Arrow missiles. If developments in Iran are leading Israel to conclude that it needs to deploy many more theater-range ABM missiles within a short period of time, the THAAD and Arrow-2 programs are unlikely to be able to handle that request due to the stage they’re at, and the industrial framework around them. That leaves the SM-3 as Israel’s only realistic rapid plus-up option.
Time will tell whether this remains a research program, or becomes an active buy.
