World Defence Forum

The decision-making process that led to the first operational use of the David’s Sling anti-missile system last week was correct, the army said Sunday, even though technical issues led to the interceptor missiles missing their targets. “In the past few days, a complete operational inquiry was conducted by the Air Force, which found that the decision-making process of identifying the threat, considering the short amount of time, was correct,” the army said, following an investigation into Monday’s incident. However, the technical reasons for why the missiles failed to hit their targets, which were fired from Syria, could not be published due to security concerns. “The lessons learned from this investigation will be implemented in the air defense system,” the army said. The Syrian rockets, which were fired as part of internal fighting in the country’s southwest, set off sirens throughout northern Israel on Monday morning, according to the Israel Defense Forces. The projectiles fired fr...

An Israeli tank targeted a Hamas military post in Gaza Saturday morning in retaliation for a breach of the border fence, the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. The IDF says "a number of suspects" crossed into Israel from northern Gaza, then returned to the coastal enclave. The attack came after Hamas claimed international mediators restored a ceasefire between itself and Israel, after an outbreak of violence that left four Palestinians, including three Hamas militants, and an Israeli soldier dead, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told CNN. "Egyptian and international efforts have led to a return to the previous state of calm between the Occupation [a reference to Israel] and the Palestinian factions," he said. The UN's Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov oversaw the negotiations. Israel declined to confirm the ceasefire, but the army said in a statement earlier Saturday that communities near Gaza could return to normal activity. "After an ass...

Russia's Defense Ministry has released a new batch of videos of cutting-edge weapons, first unveiled by President Vladimir Putin back in March. The footage shows new tests, as well as gives a grasp of the development process. The impressive set of new weapons was unveiled by Putin during his annual speech before the Federation Council back in March. The futuristic armaments, some of which are already in service, are designed to give Russia a strong deterrence against any aggression against the country. High-precision hypersonic weaponry The hypersonic air-launched Kinzhal missile, which is able to travel 10 times faster than the speed of sound, continues to undergo tests in the Southern Military District. The aviation unit that received the new missiles last December has flown over 350 missions with Kinzhals attached and launched it a number of times. The missile is launched from a high-altitude MiG-31 fighter jet, and it has an effective range of 2,000 kilometers. The Kinzha...