Rafael says Tamir stockpiles grew after wars with Iran — Jerusalem Post
Israeli defense company Rafael emerged from Israel’s recent wars with Iran with larger stockpiles of Tamir interceptors than it had before the fighting began. The company’s CEO, Yoav Turgeman, said this in an interview with The Jerusalem Post at the annual Association of the United States Army (AUSA) exhibition in Washington.
According to Turgeman, thousands of interceptors were used to defend the country against missiles, rockets and drones. At the same time, Rafael was able to replenish its Tamir stockpiles.
Production as a component of defense
Turgeman noted that prolonged military campaigns make manufacturing capabilities no less important than the characteristics of the air defense systems themselves. Rafael, which produces Iron Dome and David’s Sling, is developing a multilayer air defense architecture to counter various threats, from low-cost drones and rockets to ballistic and hypersonic missiles.
According to the Rafael chief, the Iron Dome and David’s Sling systems have together intercepted more than 11,000 targets since entering service. He also stressed that replenishing stockpiles during a protracted war requires production lines, stable supply chains, skilled workers and the ability to rapidly increase output without losing quality.
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New production sites
Rafael is expanding its international presence in 48 countries, automating production and developing partnerships abroad. The company’s new plant in the U.S. state of Arkansas is expected to be capable of producing approximately 1,000 interceptors annually for the United States and Israel.
In September, the state of Lower Saxony, Rafael and Aurelius Capital signed a letter of intent on acquiring Volkswagen’s plant in Osnabrück. This is expected to make it possible to establish production of Iron Dome components in Germany. Turgeman called this move the first stage on the path toward Berlin’s acquisition of the Iron Dome system.
At the AUSA exhibition, Rafael also displayed a full-scale model of Sky Sonic, an interceptor designed to counter hypersonic missiles. The company is separately working on solutions for networked countermeasures against coordinated attacks involving large numbers of inexpensive drones and conventional missiles.
