Israel unveiled an air-launched ballistic missile capable of defeating advanced air defenses and delivering precision strikes, the state aerospace company announced.
By deploying the Air Lora, Israel joins China and Russia in fielding compact air-launched missiles that travel through space before reentering the atmosphere to hit land or sea targets. The missiles pose major headaches for traditional air defense systems.
“Equipped with either blast fragmentation or deep penetration warheads, Air Lora is optimized for stand-off range accuracy, capable of striking targets with supersonic velocity within minutes,” Israel Aerospace Industries said in announcing the missile on Thursday. “Air Lora strikes target with precision, minimizing collateral damage and maximizing mission success.”
The missile also can strike road-mobile missiles or ships by changing course in midflight, IAI stated on its website.
The Chinese and Russian air forces have fielded missiles with the capability, but the U.S. military has yet to develop it. The Pentagon studied air-launched ballistic missiles in the 1950s and 1960s, and a U.S. Minuteman ballistic missile was test-launched from a C-5 transport in 1974. U.S. military planners abandoned the research in favor of shifting to a nuclear force built around ground-based ballistic missiles.
On April 30, China’s military showed off its new air-launched ballistic missile in a state media video. The designation 2PZD-21 suggests it is a variant of the DF-21 anti-ship ballistic missile, another unique weapon capable of striking moving ships at sea.
The Chinese missile has also been labeled the KD-21/YJ-2 air-launched strike missile. An H-6K bomber was shown carrying the missile, indicating its use for land attacks.
The Pentagon said in its latest annual report on the Chinese military that the People’s Liberation Army plans to use the air-launched ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead.
The missile is the latest nuclear strike weapon that includes an estimated 360 recently built ground-based nuclear missile silos in western China that will be filled with DF-31 or DF-41 multiwarhead missiles.
Israel said its missile can be launched from multiple types of aircraft and its firing mechanisms can be easily integrated into its F-16 or F-35 jets. The missile can be launched in “fire-and-forget” or autonomous mode.
The ballistic trajectory allows Air Lora to attack targets at supersonic speeds from a 90-degree angle, frustrating advanced air defenses designed to counter missiles at different entry angles. Foreign news reports suggest that India and Azerbaijan have contracted to buy the missile from IAI.
IAI said the missile uses GPS guidance for precision attacks and gives Israeli air forces “new offensive capabilities” from longer ranges. The greater distance leaves the Israeli jets “unexposed to enemy defenses.”
“The Air Lora improves the attack and defense capabilities of the countries, with minimal risk to pilots and planes,” Yaakov Glifat, director of the MLM factory, which produces the missile, told The Jerusalem Post.
“The missile offers the air force the ability to surprise the enemy in the depth of his territory,” Mr. Glifat said.
IAI said the missile could be used against high-value assets and hardened defenses, including command centers, air bases, critical infrastructure and naval vessels in dense coastal areas.
Air Lora is calculated to be accurate to a distance of less than 30 feet.
Russia’s air-launched ballistic missile, the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, is launched by a MiG-31 jet. The War Zone website said Russian forces have had limited success in strikes on Ukraine using the Kinzhal, which appears to be an air-launched variant of the short-range Iskander ballistic missile.
The website said the People’s Liberation Army of China reportedly has a larger and longer-range air-launched ballistic missile carried on H-6N bombers.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.
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