MISHOR YAMIN, Israel, April 26 (UPI) -- A new hyper-hemispherical sapphire dome for directional and common infrared countermeasures to protect civilian planes from missiles has been made in Israel.
The 240-degree dedicated dome by the Crystals Division of Rotem Industries solve problems in current systems' design such as limited field of view, optical obstacles and excessive drag.
The system is the first series production unit and will help defeat shoulder-fired missile used by militants to destroy commercial aircraft during takeoffs and landings.
"This development enables design of new DIRCM/CIRCM and other optical systems with new high-performance levels never seen before," said Benny Ballin, head of the Crystals Division at Rotem. "There is no doubt that this technological breakthrough will arouse interest and widen new systems' boundary limitations for optical designers, allowing a whole new approach for systems capabilities."
Rotem said development of the system was a direct result of the Israeli government's decision to equip Israeli airlines with laser-based, anti-missile systems.
Elbit Systems was chosen as the main contractor for the protection system while Rotem Industries was picked to provide sapphire hyper-hemispherical domes for the system.
Rotem said it will demonstrate the hyper-hemispherical sapphire dome beginning Tuesday at the SPIE Defense Security + Sensing exhibition in Baltimore.
