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, Eyal Zamir, then-director-general of the Defense Ministry, said that the 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 the Iron Beam would be operational within one year. Bennett's predictions came after the laser passed multiple field tests. Next, in January 2023, former IDF chief of staff Aviv Kohavi told the Jerusalem Post 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 Steinitz 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. (Read More)
