WASHINGTON -- The US Missile Defense Agency and Israel's Missile Defense Organization successfully demonstrated the David's Sling Weapons System in a series of tests at Yanat Sea Range in Israel, MDA said in a statement released Wednesday.



David's Sling is a missile defense system to defend against large-caliber rockets, short-range ballistic missiles and other developing threats, and it is central to Israel's multi-layer, anti-missile array, MDA said. The US has helped to co-develop the system. Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is the prime contractor while Raytheon is a subcontractor.



The series of tests is the fifth of its kind and is a "critical step in ensuring Israel has the capability to defend itself from a very real and growing threat," MDA director Vice Adm. James Syring was quoted as saying in the statement.



The tests involved all subsystems of the weapon, pitting the Rafael Advanced Defense Systems-made David's Sling against threat-representative targets, and taking them out with Stunner missiles.



