Luz (missile)
The RAFAEL Luz (or Lutz) was the first missile built in Israel. RAFAEL developed the missile using knowledge gained from the French MD-620 missile, built for the Israel Defense Forces by Avions Marcel Dassault-Breguet Aviation.[1] The Luz missile should have had three versions: a surface-to-surface, air-to-ground and anti-ship versions,[2] but technical problems and budget cuts forced Rafael to produce the surface-to-surface and air-to-ground versions alone.
Development
The missile, with a length of about 3.00 meters, had a range of 27 km. It was launched from a ground vehicle carrying two missiles, and guided by an operator using a joystick and an electro-optical guidance system
The anti-ship version was dropped for budgetary and technical reasons, as the electro-optical guidance system and joystick performed poorly in poor lighting conditions. Ori Even-Tov, an engineer at Rafael, had already proposed alternative solutions, but these were rejected.[3] The Anti-ship version would later become the IAI Gabriel.
References
- ↑ Karpin, Michael (2006). The bomb in the basement. p. 127.
- ↑ Carus, W. Seth (July 15, 1998). "Israeli Ballistic Missile Developments - Testimony before the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States".
- ↑ Rebinovich, Abraham (December 24, 2011). "Escape from Cherbourg". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
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