Israel on verge of deploying missile shield

Ashkelon, Israel: As it pushes for international action against Iran's nuclear programme, Israel is steadily assembling one of the world's most advanced missile defence systems, a multi-layered collection of weapons meant to guard against a variety of threats, including the shorter-range Grads used to strike Israeli towns like this one and intercontinental rockets.

The effort, partly financed by the United States and incorporating advanced American radar and other technology, has been progressing quietly for two decades. But Israeli defence and other analysts say it has now reached a level of maturity that could begin changing the nature of strategic decisions in the region.

Centred on the Arrow 2 anti-missile system, which has been deployed, the project is being extended to include a longer-range Arrow 3, the David's Sling interceptor designed to hit lower- and slower-flying cruise missiles, and the Iron Dome system intended to destroy Grads, Katyushas, Qassams and other shorter-range projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon.

With the Arrow system in operation and the Iron Dome due for deployment next year, Israel "has something to stabilise the situation: the knowledge that an attack will fail", said Uzi Rubin, a private defence consultant who ran Israel's missile shield programme in the 1990s.

Iran, he said, now cannot be assured of a successful first strike against Israel, while resistance groups such as Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon may find one of their favoured tactics undermined.

Advances in Iran's rocket technology, coupled with its ongoing nuclear programme, are chief concerns of the United States and Europe, as well as of Israel and other Middle Eastern countries.

Alongside diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear research, missile defence programmes have been designed with that country in mind.

In Israel, the issue is considered a top foreign policy priority. There have been varying Israeli assessments about Iran's progress toward a nuclear weapon: The head of the Mossad intelligence agency told a parliament committee over the summer that Iran may be five years away from acquiring an atom bomb, but the head of military intelligence has said it could happen by the end of this year.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, sees Iran's programme as an imminent danger. It "is something that threatens Israel and threatens the region and threatens the peace of the world", he said during a recent visit to Germany. "There is not much time."