In the late 90s - early 2000s Israel had been developing with the Americans a chemical based laser to shoot down short range rockets like katushas, for a tiny fraction of the cost per kill than Iron Dome and It was proven to work in trials. We decided to pull the plug through and left it sitting in a US hanger somewhere and now a US company is now using that technology to develop their own version. With investment in laser technology the system could have evolved into something really good and missiles can never be faster than laser. In time probably could have used the technology to replace Arrow which would allow us to take more shots if needed because lasers are faster than missiles and time is everything.

"U.S. missile defense assets in the Persian Gulf region, though arguably the best in the world, are not postured to strengthen conditions for deterrence."

I really hope Israelis are not "betting their lives" on this or any other "magic" technology because in the real world, technology does NOT work like in science fiction stories. Think about what has to happen, two objects rushing at each other at 1600 km/h have to get within 5 meters of each other to ensure a reasonable possibility of stopping the incoming projectile. One you understand the physics, you will understand just how unlikely success will be. These test are PR stunts, not real world.

The first problem with lasers is "burn through." That is, the energy needed to just transit the atmosphere. Then there is dispersion which lowers the effective power as the beam widens the further out it is, with lower power per square centimeter. Also it is very easy for a projectile to defend against a laser by just having a reflective surface so that most of the energy is reflected, not absorbed. Another problem with lasers is heat dispersion, That is, lasers get real hot and can only be fired after long cooling intervals. The bottom line is there are NO MAGIC WEAPONS and science principals overrule science fiction. There is a very good reason there are no battle field lasers.

Defensive weapons are several orders of magnitude more complex than offensive weapons. These days pretty much anyone can build a reasonably accurate missile for very little money because they are not that complex, but defensive weapons that are only 25% effective cost several orders of magnitude more.

Your political agenda is always to tell Israelis that "resistance is futile," the famous German lie. What happened to your previous lame and persistent assertion that "Israel has no particular advantage in weapons development?"