Negev people sue Barak over rocket defense system

"Failing to use the cheap and available Nautilus system constitutes criminal negligence on the part of the government and the army," the palintiffs said.

By ITAMAR SHARON
Barak 224 88 (photo credit: AP [file])
Barak 224 88
(photo credit: AP [file])
Seventy residents of Sderot and the Gaza periphery filed a lawsuit against Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Jerusalem's District Court on Tuesday, demanding that the IDF immediately put into use the Nautilus - a laser cannon capable of intercepting short-range missiles - in the Sderot area. "Failing to use the cheap and available Nautilus system constitutes criminal negligence on the part of the government and the army," the plaintiffs said, asserting that the system could be put into use within six months - as opposed to the Iron Dome system currently in development, which will not be operational for several years. The Nautilus, the residents added, had been shown in tests to be capable of shooting down projectiles even at short range, like the Kassams that have been launched against the Sderot area. Iron Dome, on the other hand, can only shoot down rockets originating from a certain distance, making it ineffective against most Kassams. Development of the joint US-Israeli Nautilus project, later called Skyguard, was suspended several years ago. Skyguard was one of the systems that was rejected by the Defense Ministry committee that chose Iron Dome.