Rafael Advanced Defense Systems - Technological Achievements

Technological Achievements

• Shafrir (later renamed Python) - one of the most successful air-to-air missiles ever made (during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, the IAF launched 176 Shafrir 2 missiles, destroying 89 enemy aircraft).

• Spike is a fourth generation fire-and-forget anti-tank guided missile.

• Popeye is an air-to-ground missile system. Popeye Turbo SLCM is believed to be a nuclear-tipped submarine-launched cruise missile.

• Iron Dome - The world’s first operational air defense system to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells.

• Trophy - The world’s second (the first was the Russian Drozd and Arena (countermeasure) APS) operational active protection system, successfully destroyed an anti-tank missile launched from the Gaza Strip toward a Merkava Mark IV tank near Nir Oz.

• Protector USV - The world’s first operational Unmanned surface vehicle (unmanned, autonomous naval combat system).