Hezbollah's
Katyusha rocket attacks have killed and wounded dozens of Israelis,
destroyed property, and sent thousands to bomb shelters. They
threaten to plunge the entire region into conflict. There is a way
to shoot these missiles out of the sky, limiting the danger to
innocents and mitigating the serious threat of one of the region's
most dangerous terrorist groups. The U.S. Army and Israeli Defense
Ministry have a joint program that has developed a high-energy
laser that can do the job, but they have been slow to deploy the
system. The United States should ready the system for operational
use as quickly as possible and make it available to the Israeli
Defense Forces.
A Known Threat and a
Known Countermeasure
Katyusha multiple
rocket launchers were first fielded by the Soviets during World War
II. They fire a primitive, short-range unguided rocket that is not
very accurate. They have only limited military utility but are
perfect for terror. Hezbollah has a vast stockpile of
Katyushas.
This threat is not
new, and the United States and Israel have been working on
countermeasures for over a decade. In 1996, the U.S. Army and the
Israeli Ministry of Defense began joint development of a system,
the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), to defend against the types
of rockets Hezbollah is using against Israel today. The Army
terminated development of the system in 2006 because of technical
complexities and lack of mobility. It wasn't really ready for the
battlefield. There is a "relocatable" version of THEL in
development, but funding for the program has been limited. It will
not be ready for at least another 18 months. So ten years after
development began, there is still no defensive system in the field
to protect America and its allies from terrorist rocket
attacks.
The real tragedy
is that the THEL works. At the White Sands Missile Range, THEL
intercepted Katyusha rockets 46 times, as well as artillery and
mortar projectiles, in single, multiple, and surprise engagements.
The basic technology is proven and has been in development for 20
years.
This is a clear
case of the perfect being the enemy of the good. If the U.S. Army
continues development of THEL and deploys it, even with
imperfections, Israel would have a defensive capability in place in
the near future, when it is desperately needed.
The Promise of
Directed Energy
Directed energy
weapons demonstrate tremendous potential against all kinds of
mortar, artillery, rocket, aircraft, and missile threats. Directed
energy can be used against short-range threats like the Katyusha
rockets being fired at Israel and against ballistic missiles in
their boost phase. Putting a system in the field now will not only
help Israel, but also provide invaluable operational experience on
how to use these systems.
Congress should
provide emergency supplemental funding to rush THEL into
production. The Administration should direct the Army to accelerate
the program as rapidly as possible.
James Jay Carafano,
Ph.D., is Senior Research Fellow for National Security and
Homeland Security, and David D. Gentilli is a Research
Assistant, in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign
Policy Studies, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis
Institute for International Studies, at The Heritage
Foundation.