Defense Ministry, Rafael complete David’s Sling trials

Israel’s Ministry of Defense Directorate for R&D (DDRD) (MAFAT) together with the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and Israeli defense electronics company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems have successfully completed a series of trials of the David’s Sling advanced missile defense system. David’s Sling intercepts various threats including rockets, missiles, cruise missiles, aircraft and drones.

The trials, followed from the operational lessons learned during the war, included a variety of challenging scenarios in accordance with existing and evolving threats. The success of the tests constitutes another technological and operational leap in upgrading the system, which demonstrated high performance capabilities during the war with successful interceptions that saved lives and prevented heavy damage.

David’s Sling was sold to Finland in August 2023 for €316 million. The system has a range of up to 300 kilometers and a speed of 2.55 kilometers per second (Mach 7.5), and the cost of each interceptor is $700,000. Its first operational interception was before the war, in May 2023 in Operation Shield and Arrow.

The David’s Sling system has maneuvering capabilities, which are especially important in the international arena. The system also reflects domestic cooperation with MMR radar developed by Israel Aerospace Industries Elta division and the Golden Almond command and control system developed by Elbit Systems Elisra unit.

Cheaper than the Patriot

The success of David’s Sling led Israel’s Ministry of Defense to decide in May 2024 to decommission the US Patriot batteries. This was a major achievement for Rafael and made headlines around the world. The decision stemmed, in part, from the fact that David’s Sling is a national system – meaning that one system can cover the territory of the entire country in Israel, while the Patriot is based on batteries that cover only a specific region.

“David’s Sling” is a product that has achievements very close to the PAC3 level, the most advanced interceptor in the Patriot series. But the Israeli interceptor is cheaper. Thus, each PAC3 interceptor is estimated to cost about $6 million, while a David’s Sling interception costs Israel about $700,000.

In addition, a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in December 2022 revealed that purchasing a new Patriot battery costs $1.1 billion, while the David’s Sling system was sold to Finland for $353 million.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on February 11, 2026.

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