Israel releases more details on anti-rocket programmes

Full-size models of missiles that will form part of the Israeli Magic Wand and Iron Dome anti-missile system were on display during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Rafael Advanced Defense Systems on 22 January.

The systems are designed to intercept shorter-ranged threats than those covered by Israel's Arrow anti-ballistic missile system. Magic Wand is the upper tier component of a planned defensive system that is intended to be effective against threats with ranges of 40-250 km.

In February 2007 the Israeli Missile Defence Organisation (IMDO), in co-operation with US Missile Defence Agency, selected Rafael and Raytheon to develop the missile for Magic Wand, which at that time was given the US designation Stunner.

A photograph of the Stunner missile released by the Israelis confirms the configuration displayed for the first time at the October 2007 AUSA exhibition in Washington, DC. It is a two-stage weapon in which an interceptor of Sidewinder-style configuration is boosted by a larger-diameter first stage.

The nose section is asymmetric, a configuration that suggests the use of dual-mode guidance, perhaps with a radio-frequency sensor, such as a semi-active radar seeker, in the extreme of the nose and an infrared sensor behind an obliquely mounted optical transparency. The weapon is reported to use dual-band imaging infrared seeker technology from Rafael's Python 5 air-to-air missile. 222 of 659 words