“A flying gas pipeline,” is how Londoners described the German V-2 missiles that began falling over their city in September 1944, when the Nazis successfully occupied the Netherlands and installed missile launchers in the city of The Hague to attack Britain – the most important Allied nation in World War II, the Nazi missile program was the first of its kind in the world at the Time, and Allied weapons were limited to dropping bombs.
Unlike the bombs, the V-2 missile, because of its supersonic speed and the fact that it fell without warning or noise, led some officials to try to attribute the initial damage caused to the explosion of a British ground pipeline or gas station, but there were public sightings of the missile flying through the air and landing in places where there were no pipelines or gas stations, which, as time passed, led to criticism of the government’s claim that The irony of the government’s assertion that “Hitler couldn’t reach London” is that Hitler did reach England via “flying tubes” that were completely outside of European and world technology.
German V-2 missiles were built on missiles donated by the U.S. Army in World War II
The V-2 missile was part of the German program to produce a “superhero or wonder” weapon (Wunderwaffe) with an internal “engine” that could continue to reach more than eighty kilometers above the earth’s surface and a targeting system with a range of more than 150 kilometers of directional systems.
Not surprisingly, after the end of World War II, the Americans and Russians were in a race to acquire this “wonder” weapon, with the Russians successfully acquiring the remnants of Nazi missile factories after the occupation of Germany, while the Americans managed to attract most of the German scientists working on the Nazi missile program. Slowly, V-2 missiles began to appear in the United States and Russia, including missiles for space research and moon landings, but the missile race between the Cold War poles soon opened the door to another race: an arms race for defense systems to deal with these missiles, lest both countries protect their skies from the attacks on the British capital in World War II.
The United States and Russia: Leadership
Today, the legacy of the German missile program still gives the Americans and Russians military leadership, especially in the field of missiles and air defense systems, which to this day include radar stations in addition to signals from satellites that can detect any missile, aircraft or enemy object, and then, assign missile launchers to intercept these objects before they reach their targets.
For 30 years, from 1972 to 2002, the Soviet Union and the United States committed to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, under which the two countries pledged to have only two missile defense systems with no more than 100 missiles each, but the growing danger of Iran and North Korea, as well as the danger of armed groups using objects that could penetrate U.S. airspace, prompted then-President George W. Bush in 2002 to withdrawing from the agreement and then effectively ending it, and the world returned to the air defense missile system race.
Today, the United States has developed the GBMD Ground Defense Program to intercept long-range ballistic missiles that could be launched from North Korea, Iran or Russia, a system specifically designed to protect U.S. territory. As for international alliances and systems allowed to be exported abroad, the United States has the Aegis maritime missile defense system, and Washington and some of its allies in Asia and Europe enjoy maritime cover, most notably Japan and NATO members, which are participating in studies to develop the Aegis system on their own. Aegis” system.
“The Aegis system features a set of missile launchers and radar equipment mounted on warships and destroyers, and is designed to target “tactical” missiles, i.e., short- and medium-range missiles. The U.S. has 33 Aegis-equipped ships in the system today, 16 in the Pacific and 17 in the Atlantic.
Back to ground defense, the U.S. military industry is known for the PAC-3 Patriot air defense missile system, which is widely used in NATO countries and currently exists in Germany, Spain, Greece and Romania, as well as in Israel, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Saudi Arabia, where it successfully intercepted missiles fired by Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War. It also exists in Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE, where the system is designed to intercept short-range and medium-range missiles, and NATO recently installed Patriot components in Turkey to secure its airspace from any attack from Syrian territory; today, the United States has about 1,100 Patriot missile launchers, after having produced about 1,280 launchers.
Finally, we reach the newest and most efficient U.S. system, the THAAD defense system, which is designed to intercept small and medium-sized missiles up to 200 kilometers high in the air outside the Earth’s atmosphere, and according to many sources, because of the growing danger posed by North Korea’s missile program, South Korea — most likely –is the first country outside the United States to acquire the advanced air defense missile system, angering the Chinese Communist Party as the THAAD defense system’s radar equipment monitors nearby areas, including northern China.
A photo of the THAAD defense system successfully intercepting a missile during a test
In Russia, the Moscow Armory has the S-400 air defense missile system, which is considered equivalent to the U.S. THAAD defense system, and Russia has placed the latest version of the S-400 air defense missile system in different regions of its western provinces, especially in Kaliningrad province, which is located between Poland and the Baltic states. After the Crimean peninsula was incorporated into Russia, Moscow placed another system on the Crimean peninsula and then gave it almost complete control over the atmosphere of the Black Sea. In addition, Russia placed the S-400 air defense missile system in the Syrian city of Latakia in December 2015.
Despite the announcement of several deals to sell the S-400 system, in addition to many countries declaring their willingness to purchase the defense system, Russia has yet to deliver it to any country other than China, which – outside of Russia’s controlled borders – is the first country to receive the S-400 air defense missile system, and that country received the Russian defense system in 2018, in addition to Russia’s recent agreement with Turkey, a major NATO member, to purchase the defense system, and announced agreements include one with India that was scheduled to receive the S-400 air defense missile defense system in 2020 but was delayed due to U.S. opposition.
Also in the Russian arsenal is the S-300V-4 system, the equivalent of the U.S. Patriot system, which is more efficient at intercepting missiles down to 60 kilometers and with a maximum range of up to 4 kilometers. And there are the S-300 and S-400 air defense missile systems, which protect the skies from most types of missiles and aircraft, with the exception of the more advanced U.S. F-22 and F-35 fighter jets, which are virtually unaffected by both systems. However, the presence of a large number of these defense systems could hinder the work of several of these stealth aircraft.
Thus, these impenetrable systems have consolidated the security of the skies for the Americans, the Russians and their allies, which until now, and perhaps for a long time, have held the world’s missile defense throne, but the military industries of three other Asian countries and regions are in full development to catch up with the advanced ranks: China, India and Israel.
China and India: Asia’s two poles
We do not know exactly how the Chinese Communist Party acquired the U.S. Patriot defense replica, but it is certain that it did so either through the “Israelis” – which they deny – or through Germany, as other analysts have suggested. As a strategic competitor of the United States, China is by no means a market for any U.S. military product, but the CCP successfully purchased a battery of Patriot defense systems in the 1990s, enabling it to combine them with S-300 technology acquired from Russia to complete the successful development of the Red Flag-9 (HQ-9), the most advanced system China has had to date.
But some believe that even though the system includes a portion of the Patriot, it is less efficient than its Russian counterpart, as reflected in the Communist Party’s continued reliance on S-300 weapons purchased from Russia, which has three land-based systems and one maritime system to protect the coast.
At the turn of the century, Turkey negotiated with China Huateng Industry Co Ltd (CPMIEC) and selected the Chinese company in 2013, while the Turkish company was involved in the production of components, but the deal was eventually shelved and Turkey continued to consider purchasing the Russian S-400 air defense system or the French-Italian Astute missile system.
China Huateng Industry Co.
The Chinese Communist Party is developing a domestic missile defense system equivalent to the U.S. THAAD, the “Red Flag 19,” and although uncertain, a similar missile was successfully tested in 2015 and is believed to be the “Red Flag 19,” in addition to the Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing “Red Flag 26 (equivalent to the SM-3 missile used by the United States as part of the Aegis naval system) and Red Flag 29 (equivalent to the Patriot system) To keep pace with U.S. technology – now the CCP’s main competitor – the CCP has been making deals with Russia to acquire Russian weapons such as the S-300, which are missing from the CCP’s arsenal.
On the other side of Asia, India has two defense systems, the Landside Air Defense (PAD), which is designed to intercept missiles at altitudes of 50 km to 80 km, and the Advanced Air Defense (AAD), an anti-missile system designed to intercept rockets at low altitudes of up to thirty km, but India’s domestic industry is still unable to compete with the CCP in this area and is therefore partially dependent on Russia’s S 300 system.
India established a close military partnership with Israel in the 1990s, when the two sides announced the start of manufacturing the Barak-8 air defense missile system in India with Israeli assistance, and in addition, India has shown interest in recent years in having the Israeli Iron Dome and Arrow “In addition, India has shown interest in recent years in possessing Israeli Iron Dome and Arrow anti-missile systems in order to counter the so-called high-level strategic military coordination between the Chinese Communist Party and Pakistan, whose missile program cannot be ignored, as well as Iran’s possessions in the vicinity of India.
Despite the rapprochement with the United States over the past two decades, India’s military industry still relies heavily on its close partnership with Russia since the Cold War, and since India is the largest Russian arms buyer in the world today, the Indians are waiting to acquire Russian S-400 systems when the sale deals announced over the past few years begin to be executed, and then the Indians are waiting for the Russian S-400 systems to launch, they are now increasingly interested in what the Israeli military industry can offer because of Israel’s expertise in responding to similar dangers facing India.
Israel: Relentless Determination
It is no exaggeration to say that “Israel” is one of the five most important countries on the missile defense map, with varying missile defense plans, depending on the fact that Israel is a small country geographically and in terms of total population, and that Tel Aviv sees it as an enemy or competitor, in addition to the fact that “Israel ” is constantly involved in various conflicts, from the war with Hamas and Hezbollah to the main hostility against the Iranian regime.
“Israel currently possesses the famously advanced Iron Dome defense system, developed by Israel’s state-owned military industry, Rafael Defense Systems, which is designed to combat missiles with a range of 4 km to 70 km, according to the Israelis. “The reputation of the Iron Dome defense system, which was widely publicized during the recent war with Hamas and successfully intercepted many rockets from the Gaza Strip, has prompted several countries to request the purchase of the defense system, including Azerbaijan, which is in conflict with Armenia and uses the latest Russian missiles.
Israel also has an advanced “Iron Beam” laser defense system, which works with lasers on missiles with a range of up to 7 kilometers, targeting them by directing laser beams at them to heat them up and then destroy them. In addition, Raytheon Technologies and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems have partnered to produce the David Slingshot system, which is designed to intercept targets with a range of 70 to 300 kilometers, and upon completion and full testing, the David Slingshot system is expected to When completed and fully tested, the David Slingshot system is expected to replace the Patriot system currently in place in Israel.
Israel also has the Arrow ballistic missile defense system, which was produced in the 1990s as the Arrow-1 and Arrow-2 and activated in 2000 to counter long-range missiles. Long-range missiles and, most importantly, the Arrow-3 system, recently produced in 2008 by Israel Aerospace Industries in cooperation with Boeing, can intercept rockets outside the atmosphere, a technology that “Israel” needs because Israel believes Iran could target it with missiles carrying nuclear warheads, making it necessary to keep them as far away from airspace as possible.
Israel is more keen than other countries to face the various risks that motivate it to have these different systems, on the one hand, Israel is particularly interested in what Iran has, and in addition, several countries maintain close relations with Russia, such as the current Assad regime in Syria, as well as the past Saddam regime in Iraq and Nasser’s regime in Egypt, which is what has motivated it to develop its own defense systems together with the United States for decades. defense systems with the U.S. for decades, and is still driving its continued partnership with Russian missile technology, even though “Israel” is not an enemy of Russia.
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