Shortly after landing at Ben-Gurion Airport on July 13, hearing speeches by President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Yair Lapid and delivering a short address himself, US President Joe Biden will be taken to a military base at Palmachim on the Mediterranean coast. There, his hosts will show him the best merchandise and top-of-the line technology that the Israeli defense industry has to offer, specifically a laser-based missile interception launcher in development with US funding and for which Israel has high hopes as a strategic tie-breaker in the Middle East.
The launcher, which experts estimate will be operational in about 18 months, is being touted as a powerful response to the huge stockpile of rockets and missiles held by Hezbollah and being modified into precision rockets by Iran. Unlike the Israeli-developed Iron Dome missile interceptor, whose interception capabilities are limited in scope, the laser would be able to handle a large number of simultaneous launches.
