U.S., Israel announce successful test of 'David's Sling'

March 20 (UPI) -- The United States and Israel announced the successful completion of testing of an advanced missile interception system known as "David's Sling."

The test series completed Tuesday in southern Israel was the sixth series of David's Sling tests, and the Missile Defense Agency, a division of the U.S. Defense Department, and the Israel Missile Defense Organization each called the tests a success.

Davids Sling was developed by the U.S. company Raytheon and Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, it employs two-stage Stunner interceptor missiles. Repeated testing has proven the system's ability to destroy large torrents of high-caliber rockets and short-range ballistic missiles, Raytheon said.

The system is an element of Israel's multi-tier layered missile defense architecture, offering mid-tier regional missile defense with a hit-to-kill defense against tactical ballistic missiles, medium- to long-range rockets, enemy planes, drones and cruise missiles.

"The Defense Ministry, in cooperation with the US Missile Defense Agency, successfully completed a series of interception tests on David's Sling weapons system," Israel's defense ministry said on Tuesday, adding that "the success of the series constitutes an important milestone in the State of Israel's ability to defend itself against existing and future threats in the arena."

The MDA called the tests an "important milestone in operational capability of Israel to defend itself against existing and future threats in the region."

The first iteration of the David's Sling system was used in July 2018 to intercept ballistic missiles launched from Syria. Two Russian-made SS-21 missiles, fired as a result of internal fighting in Syria, were successfully knocked down over northern Israeli airspace.