The plant Lod (Israel) the subcontractor electronic Sanmina could close its doors. One of his clients, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, a supplier of military, has already found a replacement for the factory to manufacture electronic cards to use in the air defense system Iron Dome created by Israel.
The cards in question are part of the electronic missile guidance Tamir to intercept rockets and skuds from neighboring territories. The Iron Dome is the whole anti-aircraft system installed by Israel to counter such attacks.
Rafael said that the plant Lod Sanmina continue to manufacture the cards in question until next March.
Sanmina This site has 300 employees. In Israel, the subcontractor also has a production center in Ma'alot in the north.
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Stéphane Amar special collaboration. Press (1): "The Israelis talk with a mixture of pride and fascination. The" Dome of Steel "is the real hero of this new war against Gaza. This system is able to intercept missile in flight over the half of Palestinian rockets, including those fired in the direction of Tel Aviv. Developed by Rafael, a flagship of the Israeli military industry, the system detects the missiles from their launch, establish their trajectory and automatically launch a missile.
"It is a beautiful sight, these missiles exploding in the sky," says Boris, a resident of Tel Aviv witnessed one of these interceptions. The steel dome probably plays an important role in the government's determination to intensify the offensive. Since the population is relatively protected from Palestinian attacks, the government enjoys unprecedented popularity and can conduct operations at will.
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According to a source IsraelValley, Rafael, based in the north of the country, is preparing to invest tens of millions of shekels in the coming months. Objective: to open a second production line Tamir interceptors attached to the Iron Dome system, two batteries are currently stationed around Beersheba and Ashkelon.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense is currently in discussions to accelerate this process and to quickly obtain new stocks of missiles. I must say that last Friday, nearly a hundred rockets that targeted the southern region of Israel, to the port city of Ashdod.
According to the Air Force, the Iron Dome system intercepted during the past week about 90% of Grad missiles, which took the direction of urban centers, approximately 25 shots. Other rockets landed in unpopulated areas, sometimes causing forest fires, as Monday night in the border region of Hof Ashkelon.
For now, Rafael has only one production line. But between the future operational needs of the IDF and the control of two new batteries whose delivery is scheduled for 2012, the Israeli missile is forced to significantly increase its capacity.
Previously, a third battery should be completed by the end of September, and will be deployed in the city of Sderot, the target of Palestinian rockets since the outbreak of the second intifada in 2000.
Forecasts provide optimal production of a total of six Iron Dome units by 2013, which will allow Israel to ensure its defense almost hermetic northern and southern borders - an expert committee of the Knesset recently estimated 13 batteries that were needed.
If four systems should be directly funded by the United States to come to inject $ 205 million for Israeli missile defense, the defense ministry will necessarily be confronted with budget problems.
The cost of an Iron Dome battery - including radar detection and tracking developed in a joint venture by Elbit and IAI - is currently estimated at $ 50 million, while Tamir missile is around $ 40,000.
These expenses cold sweat to the Israeli government, especially the use of the system during the last wave of attacks on the South resulted in a bill of $ 1.5 million. Only the quick sale of the "Iron Dome" foreign armies will reduce the exorbitant costs and unwelcome in social crisis.
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