Two days after joining NATO, Finland announced its intention to acquire from Israel the most powerful Western missile defense system David’s Sling. The Israeli Ministry of Defense has already confirmed a request for the supply of a complete set of air defense systems and its integration into the command and control systems of the Finnish Armed Forces.
According to Military Watch Magazine , the Israeli system will be a good complement to the American F-35 fighters already ordered by the Finns, which will provide ideal protection for NATO’s new land border with Russia.
David’s Slingshots are potentially a very effective addition to fighters. F-35s are notorious for spending a lot of time on airfields due to notoriously low readiness rates, with David’s Slings potentially providing key airbase protection in the likely event that Russia attempts to destroy ground-based fighters in using means such as Iskander ballistic missiles.” writes Military Watch.
The magazine recalls that the “Sling of David” is superior to the American Patriot missile defense system and has never experienced combat failures. However, Israel’s potential adversaries in the Middle East do not have missile weapons as effective as Russia. Additionally, several David’s Sling missiles were captured by the Russian military in Syria and sent to the Russian Federation for study. Therefore, the publication does not exclude the fact that Russia has effective means to combat the Israeli missile defense system.
David’s Sling does not have the capability to intercept hypersonic missiles. The system also lacks layered defenses comparable to its Russian counterparts such as the S-400, which can fire more than half a dozen different classes and types of missiles optimized to hit different targets at different ranges, which means that Finland should acquire shorter-range systems. to protect the “David’s Sling” from possible massive attacks
