# Does Israel have working 'starwars' technology? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2002, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-working-starwars-technology/129555 "2002-09-25T02:28:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Logical\_Phallacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Logical\_Phallacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Logical_Phallacy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-working-starwars-technology/129555/1 "2002-09-25T02:28:20Z")
I saw some images today that showed how israel can shoot down any incoming missle from 600 km away. The speaker said that this means any missile iraq could send incl. a WOMD would be knocked from the sky by an israeli missile. How much truth is there to this? What sort of accuracy is a system like this capable of? My previous understanding of america’s efforts to produce technology for the same system have been unsuccessful, and so I assumed no such system existed. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-working-starwars-technology/129555/2 "2002-09-25T02:55:59Z")
Israel has a number of Patriot batteries, but these Patriots are advanced compared to the ones in the Gulf War. Israel also has the [Arrow-2 missile system](http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/US-Israel/Arrow.html). This thing appears to be highly effective - a whole new class over the Patriot. It has successfully intercepted SCUD-type missiles in flight tests. Israel is also working on directed energy weapons for destroying missiles in flight. These systems are listed as being ‘in development’, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all to find out that they are in at least experimental deployment in some cases - some hints have been dropping lately that the U.S. has some secret energy weapons it may employ in Iraq when the war starts. So Israel probably has a pretty good chance of stopping an individual missile. The odds go down with each missile strike, but Iraq only has something like 28 missiles we know about that could hit Israel, and I’m guessing that quite a few would not fly successfully if Iraq tried to launch them. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-working-starwars-technology/129555/3 "2002-09-25T03:01:30Z")
> [@](#): > > Israel is said to have deployed PAC-2 batteries around such cities as Arad, Eilat, Haifa and Tel Aviv. The batteries are said to be far more effective in targeting enemy ballistic missiles than in 1991 Gulf war, with the capability to distinguish between the warhead and other portions of the missile. [http://216.26.163.62/2002/me\_israel\_09\_12.html](http://216.26.163.62/2002/me_israel_09_12.html) If I recall correctly, the US military recently decided to purchase several hundred of Israel’s [Arrow Missiles](http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/US-Israel/Arrow.html) for it’s own theatre defense system. The [US navy’s program has been cancelled](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46345-2001Dec14.html), and [the land-based program is in trouble.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43890-2002Aug4.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-working-starwars-technology/129555/4 "2002-09-25T03:03:44Z")
‘Purchase’ them? 78% of the funding for the Arrow missile program came from the U.S. I think I would categorize it as more of a joint development program, with the U.S. contracting Israel to build the finished missiles, much like they subcontract other defense hardware for which they also funding R&D. ---
**Author:** ![PolskiKing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@PolskiKing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PolskiKing)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-working-starwars-technology/129555/5 "2002-09-25T03:09:10Z")
I dunno about Isreal, but I have heard that Iraq once attempted a progect to launch a satellite into space, which would’ ve had profound military consequences. They extrapolated upon an idea that was originally formed by the Canadians who saw the economic potential of SHOOTING a craft into space, remarkebly cheaper and easier then the standerd rocket-propeled that countries like the US usuallly use Apparently sections of a bizarre cannon were recovered shortly after the conclusion of the Persion Gulf War, presumably for space-launching program. How close they really were to I dont know, but it is a scary thought, huh? If someone knows a bit more on this subject i’d be glad to hear some more info, this peaked my intrest (sorry Logical Phall, didnt mean to hijack ur post or anyting) -PK ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-working-starwars-technology/129555/6 "2002-09-25T03:23:06Z")
“‘Purchase’ them? … I think I would categorize it as more of a joint development program” However you care to describe it; the military dropped the US developed missile and went with the foreign supplier. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-working-starwars-technology/129555/7 "2002-09-25T03:27:48Z")
Look up Gerard K. Bull. He was a Canadian weapons designer, who took a contract from Iraq to build them a supercannon. So someone took out a contract on Mr. Bull. The likely culprit being Mossad, but lots of countries around there wouldn’t have wanted Saddam to lob shell on them from within Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-working-starwars-technology/129555/8 "2002-09-25T04:27:20Z")
Look up Gerard K. Bull. He was a Canadian weapons designer, who took a contract from Iraq to build them a supercannon. So someone took out a contract on Mr. Bull. The likely culprit being Mossad, but lots of countries around there wouldn’t have wanted Saddam to lob shell on them from within Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2002, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-working-starwars-technology/129555/9 "2002-09-25T04:48:01Z")
Wow. The same post showed up exactly one hour after the first one.