On 28 February 2006, Thales and Rafael achieved another milestone in the DEFENDER system integration venture. The DEFENDER successfully fired the BARAK missile at Shdema Test Range in the south of Israel. This latest achievement follows previous exten-sive integration testing and dry runs.
The live firing was against a target drone. The target was detected at a range of 20 km by the FLYCATCHER Mk2's surveillance radar, and was continuously tracked by its tracking radar. When the drone was at a range of around 7 km from the DEFENDER system, the BARAK missile was launched and guided to the target until the successful interception was achieved at a distance of 6 km. BARAK achieved a direct hit on the target, proving once again the ex-treme precision of the missile and the FLYCATCHER Mk2 control system.
The FLYCATCHER Mk2 command and fire control centre is the core of a hybrid, integrated layered air defence concept developed by Thales. The FLYCATCHER Mk2 system is able to simultaneously control both guns and missile systems. Within the hybrid concept, FLY-CATCHER Mk2 also controls the vertically launched BARAK Surface-to-Air missile that was developed by RAFAEL. The BARAK missile system was originally developed for naval appli-cations and is in service with several navies around the world.
