Defanging Hezbollah: A Directed Energy Defense Could Help

Publication Date: July 2006

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): James Jay Carafano; David D. Gentilli

Research Area: Military and defense

Keywords: National security; rockets; shelters

Type: Brief

Abstract:

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.