Magic Wand defense system slated for test run

Defense establishment says mid-range anti-missile system to become operational sooner than expected

Hanan Greenberg|Published: 05.31.11 , 21:21

Defense establishment sources said Tuesday that Magic Wand – the IDF's mid-range anti-missile system – is likely to become operational sooner than expected.

"Over the next few months we will be conducting full-system test runs and we may declare Magic Wand fully operational in the very near future," Colonel (Res.) Pini Yungman, who heads the project for RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems, said.

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Yungman presented the system's defensive capabilities for the first time Tuesday, in a New Tech conference on military developments.

While refraining from giving an estimated date in which Magic Wand would become fully operational, Yungman said its development was progressing much faster than originally planned.

The system, he said, may become a part of the IDF's home front defense deployment as early as 2013, meeting the threat posed by Hezbollah's Katyusha rockets, for example.

"The system would be able to tackle threats which are currently considered only potential. The purpose is to be able to target all short-range missiles, as well as cruise-missiles and targets the Hetz Missile System opts to defer."

The system, he added, will also give the military the option to change a missile's course in mid-flight.

Magic Wand is set to become Iron Dome's complementary defense system, and along with the Hetz and Patriot defense systems, to protect Israel in its entirety from the threat of missile attacks.