(Tribune News Service) — Israel expects a new laser system that can intercept rockets, drones and mortars at negligible cost to be operational next year after an accelerated manufacturing process.

The shield, known as Iron Beam, would supplement existing Israeli air defenses that have been stretched by more than a year of fighting with Iran and its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. It is designed to disable incoming projectiles by heating them using a high-energy laser, as opposed to shooting them down with missiles.

The new system has an effective range of between hundreds of meters and several kilometers, and would thus complement the short-range Iron Dome rocket interceptor, according to state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the manufacturer of both the types of weaponry. Israel’s Elbit Systems Ltd. said the Defense Ministry has awarded it a contract worth about $200 million to supply the Iron Beam lasers.

Whereas it costs about $60,000 to shoot down a projectile using the Iron Dome, Iron Beam’s price tag will be as little as $5, according to an industry source. The laser system would also eliminate the danger of interceptor debris causing damage.

Iron Beam is being manufactured at an accelerated pace and is “due to enter operational service one year from today,” Eyal Zamir, the Defense Ministry’s director-general, said at the announcement of a 2 billion-shekel ($536 million) investment in the manufacturing of the system on Monday. This is “the tiding of the start of a new era in the battlefield — the laser era,” he said.

Israel’s aerial defenses have largely been developed in conjunction with key ally the U.S., which recently deployed one of its own THAAD interceptors to help fend off potential ballistic missile attacks from Iran.

Israel expects $5.2 billion in emergency funding from the U.S., some of which would be used for Iron Beam, Zamir said on Oct. 21.

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