Overview

• The Israeli Ministry of Defense announced on August 4 that David’s Sling completed a series of advanced live-fire tests at IMDO ranges in cooperation with the US Missile Defense Agency.
• The trials simulated emerging aerial threats—including cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and long-range rockets—to validate interceptor performance across diverse combat scenarios.
• These developmental exercises form part of an iterative operational learning process that incorporates lessons from the Swords of Iron war and Operation Rising Lion.
• David’s Sling functions as the central mid-range layer of Israel’s multi-tier air and missile defense architecture alongside Iron Dome, Arrow and the future Iron Beam system.
• The system is jointly developed by Israel’s IMDO and the US MDA, with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems as prime contractor and Raytheon, Elta Systems and Elbit Systems supplying critical components.