New Weapon: The Iron Beam or Eitan Or

 Nadene Goldfoot                                              

Who is Daniel Gold? The Engineer Who Designed Israel’s Iron Dome Missile Defense System

From Israel;  The head of the Directorate of Defense Research & Development, Brig. Gen. (Res.) Dr. Danny Gold, announced today that the directorate, together with Rafael and Elbit, will deliver the new laser weapon system Iron Beam (known in Hebrew as “Eitan Or” in memory of fallen soldier Eitan Oster) to the Air Force’s air‑defense branch by the end of the year. The laser system is expected to be a game changer on the battlefield.                          

  Gold in center in 2022 at Eitan Oster's funeral.            

                                                 

Eitan Yitzhak Oster was an Israel Defense Forces officer in the Egoz reconnaissance unit of the Commando Brigade. He was killed in action during the Battle of Al-Aadaissah in southern Lebanon and became the first Israeli casualty during the ground operation in Lebanon during the Israel–Hezbollah conflict.  He was born December 21, 2001 and died recently, October 22, 2024 at the age of 23. 

 On the night of October 2, 2024, while leading his team to secure an observation position in Adaisseh, they encountered a Hezbollah cell, sparking close-quarters combat. Oster was wounded in the chest but continued to command and evacuate his men under fire. He was later evacuated to Misgav Am and then by helicopter, where he was pronounced dead due to blood loss. He was the first Israeli soldier killed in the Lebanon ground operation of the war. Eitan probably was related to my Oster family of my Uncle Werner Oster, last Jew to get out of Germany in 1939 after a stint in what became a gas chamber center, Auschwitz.  

Daniel Danny Gold is an Israeli Defense Engineer, Israeli military leader born in 1962 in Tel Aviv, age 63.  He completed his studies in Electronic Engineering from Technion. He has two doctoral degrees in electronic engineering and business administration from University of Tel Aviv.  A Tat Aluf (Brigadier General) in the Israel Defense Forces in 2016. Additionally, he serves as the head of the National Technological Center for Combatting the COVID-19 pandemic at the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Israel’s New $1.2 Billion Laser Will Be Nearly Unstoppable—And America Wants One, Too

“Israel is a narrow strip of land with dense urban population centers. That does not leave much depth, so there is a premium on intercepting threats in flight,” explains James Black, assistant director at RAND Europe, a nonprofit think tank.  But Israel’s sophisticated, multi-layered integrated air-defense systems couldn’t stop everything. Nine Iranian missiles reportedly struck Nevatim and Ramon Airbases, and one person was injured by shrapnel. The waves of drones, missiles, and rockets synchronized to hit simultaneously were meant to overload Israeli defenses and exhaust stocks of interceptors. The wall held well this time, but Israeli planners know it’s a numbers game.

                                            

OFFICIALLY KNOWN AS “SHIELD OF LIGHT,” Iron Beam is a 100 kilowatt-class High-Energy Laser Weapon System, which Rafael Advanced Defense Systems first unveiled in 2014. Rafael is also a contractor on Iron Dome.

“Iron Beam will not replace Iron Dome, but complement it. Directed Energy offers a way to prioritize kinetic interceptors against the threats they are most needed for,” Black says. Specifically, Iron Beam will be integrated as an additional short-range layer to destroy threats up to 4.3 miles away.

 His parents, Aviva and Avraham, were Holocaust survivors who immigrated to Israel from Hungary. He completed his studies in Electronic Engineering at the Technion and in 1983 began his service in the Israeli Air Force, where he held positions in electronics, munitions, and electronic warfare. He later served in the DDR&D in various roles, including head of the Electronic Warfare Systems Department and head of the Research and Development Unit.

Among his notable contributions was the development of the Iron Dome missile defense system, which he worked on even before the project's approval. This work of his was originally critiqued by the states comptroller. For his work, he received the Israel Defense Prize in September 2012. In 2014, he completed his service in the IDF with the rank of Brigadier General and founded the company "Gold Technology and Entrepreneurship."

Rafael and Elbit are key companies involved in Israel's Iron Dome system, with Rafael as the main developer and Elbit as a partner in the newer Iron Beam laser system. Rafael is the primary developer of the original Iron Dome system, which uses missiles for interception, and is also developing the high-power laser system known as "Iron Beam". Elbit is a partner in the development of Iron Beam, manufacturing the laser source for the system, which will work alongside Iron Dome.