What is David’s Sling? The Israeli air and missile defense system for medium and long range.
David’s Sling
Rafael’s Advanced Defense Systems and Raytheon joint Medium and Long Range Air and Missile Defense System. It forms the medium layer in Israel’s multi-layered air defense architecture: Iron Dome against short-range missiles, Arrow family against strategic ballistic missiles, while David’s Sling is designed to target medium-range ballistic missiles, guided missiles, and aircraft. The Stunner missile is similar in class to the Patriot PAC-3 missile. It became operational in 2017.
What is David’s Sling?
David’s Sling (David Sling), is a Medium and Long Range Air and Missile Defense System developed jointly by Rafael (Israel) and Raytheon (United States). It is the third layer in Israel’s multi-layered air defense structure:
- Iron Dome — the lower layer, against Hamas/Hezbollah missiles with a range of 4-70 km.
- David’s Sling — the medium layer, up to ≈300 km medium-range ballistic missiles, guided missiles, aircraft, large drones.
- Arrow 2 — the upper layer, long-range ballistic missiles.
- Arrow 3 — the very upper layer, intercontinental ballistic threats outside the atmosphere.
The Stunner missile of David’s Sling does not carry a conventional warhead; instead, it destroys the target through direct impact based on the kinetic principle (the same philosophy as the Patriot PAC-3). This allows a single missile to effectively strike various types of targets (moving ballistic missile, low-flying guided missile, fast aircraft).
The system became operational in 2017. In May 2023, it conducted its first combat launch by intercepting a medium-range missile from Hezbollah/Hamas launched from Palestine towards Israel. In October 2024, Arrow and David’s Sling provided defense together against the Iranian missile attack on Israel.
Comparison Point for Turkey: The HİSAR-O+ system developed by ASELSAN/Roketsan is a lower layer compared to David’s Sling. Meanwhile, SİPER is in a higher layer — being developed for medium and long-range air defense in the class of David’s Sling.
