Rafael Touts Missile Defence at Sea
At EXPONAVAL 2016, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems promoted C-DOME, an air defence and anti-missile solution derived from the combat-proven IRON DOME system, which as a land-based asset has already been successfully employed in over 1,500 Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar (C-RAM) interceptions in Israel, Additionally, IRON DOME proved a viable solution in the Short-Range Air Defence (SHORAD) role.
Talking to Mönch, Rafael’s Marketing Director Eyal Ben Zion underlined that both IRON DOME and C-DOME employ the same interceptor missile, which, in the last case, uses a modular launcher installed below the ship’s deck, with each launcher comprising up to 10 vertical missile canisters that do not need maintenance.
Each C-DOME modular launcher is compact enough to fit even on board corvettes or armed Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPVs), providing them with a substantial defensive capability.
“But the system can also be fitted on bigger frigates, where space allows for the installation of several modular launchers”, Ben Zion pointed out.
The C-DOME launcher and its fire control system integrated in to Combat Management System (CMS) utilises the detection capability provided by the on-board surveillance radar to engage and handle multiple threats simultaneously. All missile interceptors are ready for instant firing, using fully automatic or semi-automatic launching modes. Each interceptor missile offers full 360° coverage and is extremely agile, being capable to engage the most manoeuvrable targets.
Following successful testing of the C-DOME earlier this year (neutralising several simulated GRAD-type rockets and other threats), the Israeli Navy is now installing this weapon system on-board its SA’AR 5 missile corvettes. The system will also be fitted to the future SA’AR 6 corvettes.
Ben Zion informed Mönch that, “while Rafael’s BARAK is a system aimed mainly to engage, destroy, and neutralise the threat represented by high-speed anti-shipping missiles, C-DOME is aimed at engaging other artillery and air threats that are present in littoral operational scenarios. So, C-DOME and BARAK are complementary to each other.”