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| Israel Barracks Air Defense Missile Systems And UAE Army Deployed To Intercept Hezbollah Drones |
Tel Aviv - It is reported that the Israeli Barak air defense missile system is currently deployed with the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces and has been used to intercept Hezbollah drones. Based on satellite imagery published by Tactical Report (28/10), it can be seen that the Barak air defense missile system is stationed near Al-Dhafra air base, south of Abu-Dhabi. The image shows the Barak missile launch module and the Elta EL/M-2084 radar.
So far it is known that there is no information about the sale of this Barak air defense missile system to the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. But citing information published by Reuters in September 2022, Israel has approved the sale of the Spyder air defense missile system. The request was approved in mid-summer this year.
Another source said the United Arab Emirates had acquired Israeli technology capable of fighting drone attacks like the one that hit Abu Dhabi earlier this year. With the United Arab Emirates involved in the war in Yemen, the country has faced several drone attacks from Houthi rebels.
In January 2022, Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for what United Arab Emirates officials described as a drone and missile attack in Abu Dhabi that killed three people at facilities of state oil company ADNOC.
Regarding the Barak, it is an air defense missile system jointly developed by the Israeli company Rafael and IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries). The system has been designed to detect and destroy any flying targets such as missiles, drones, helicopters and subsonic and supersonic aircraft.
The Barracks has a missile container with eight launch tubes. The missile has a maximum speed of Mach 2 with a maximum operational range of 70 km. Barracks units can be connected to modern air defense systems, surveillance radars and multi-function guidance radars, such as the EL/M-2248 MF-STAR AESA.
Prior to acquiring the Barracks, the UAE itself had been equipped with the THAAD and PAC-3 Patriot air defense missile systems from the United States. But the use of this type of missile is very expensive to destroy low cost drones. The second problem is that drones are very small and difficult for radar to detect this type of threat.