Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday confirmed that the Rafael-produced Iron Beam anti-air defense laser will be operational within around nine months, before the end of 2025.
In October 2024, then Defense Ministry Director-General Eyal Zamir said that Iron Beam would be operational within one year – which would be in around seven months, but a confirmation of that schedule four months later is significant, given that many past Israeli predictions have been overly optimistic.
In February 2022, then Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that Iron Beam would be operational within one year.
Bennett's predictions came after the laser passed multiple field tests.
Next, in January 2023, then IDF chief of staff Aviv Kohavi told the Jerusalem Post in an interview that he would be more cautious than Bennett and predicted the laser would be deployed to defend against Gaza's aerial threats by January 2025.
Then, in August 2023, Rafael Chairman Yuval Stenitz said that the laser would be ready within one year – by August 2024
All three of these deadlines have passed, Bennett's by more than two years.
A landmark deal
In October 2024, the Defense Ministry signed a landmark deal worth approximately NIS 2 billion (over $500 million) to expand serial production of Iron Beam with lead developers Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Elbit Systems, signaling that the final stages before deployment really were approaching.
Iron Beam is a ground-based high-power laser air defense system designed to counter short to mid-range aerial threats, including rockets, mortars, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and cruise missiles.
The system is expected to integrate into Israel's multi-layered defense array as a complementary capability to the Iron Dome system.
This integration will significantly enhance Israel's defense capabilities against current and future threats while offering substantially lower operational costs, with some estimates as low as $2-$3.50 per laser shot as compared to $40,000-50,000 for an Iron Dome interceptor.
At later stages, there is hope to deploy laser defenses also on air force jets, but this could take much longer, with vague estimates of an additional 5-10 years.
Katz made his comments about Iron Beam while touring Rafael facilities and also complementing the defense-technology giant for its contributions of Iron Dome and Davd's Sling to Israel's missile shield.
While the laser is said to be effective against drones as well, the Defense Ministry and the IDF are also working on around a dozen other potential solutions to defend against drones, given aspects of the drone threat that differentiate it from rockets and missiles.
He also threatened all Israeli enemies that if they raised their "hand" (meaning went on the attack metaphorically speaking) against Israel, the Jewish state has "many tools to strike them back with a decisive blow…this hand will be cut off."
