Rocket Defence System Still Being Mismanaged by Politicians

Haaretz reports that defence industry officials have said that there is still no consistent funding plan for the rocket defence system elected by the Ministry of Defence (which happens to be rubbish anyway compared to other ones which are at a more advanced stage of development, less costly and more effective as I mentioned here).

What is the problem here? How is it so complicated to work out that Israel desperately needs a workable defence system against short range rockets? The major threat facing Israel on its northern border is short and medium range rockets and missiles and that negating their effect would effectively neutralise Hizballah and Syria’s ability to harm Israel without actually trying to invade.

It’s now a year on and we seem to be no closer to having an up and running rocket-defence system, despite the fact that Qasssams are still being fired at the south-western Negev every day and that tensions on the northern border with Hizballah and Syria are still extremely high. How hard is it to decide on a system, fund it, develop it and deploy it? The technology is there and the necessity is there. The funds have to be made available to counter this strategic threat to the State of Israel.

“Lack of funds may expose home front to missiles

Lack of a consistent funding plan may leave the home front open to rocket and missile threats from neighboring countries, defense industry officials told Haaretz Thursday… They warned that inadequate and short-sighted budgeting may cause contractors to be unable to meet the government's deadline 20 months from now for deploying anti-ballistic rocket systems near population centers…

The sources estimate that the budget for Iron Dome, Israel's short-range, rocket-based interception system, will run out by the end of 2007…

A senior official in the defense industry told Haaretz that the Iron Dome project "is advancing at a very slow pace, which contradicts the cabinet's resolutions on quickly setting up active defenses for towns and cities near the Gaza Strip and the border with Lebanon that have in past years come under repeated rocket attacks."…

"The defense industries need money to make headway. But currently, there isn't even a dedicated administrational body for handling development and to regularly allocate budgets and sub-budgets," the official said. ”