Colombia Orders Israeli Barak MX Air Defense Systems

Colombia has placed an order for two units of truck-transportable Barak MX air defense systems produced by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), reports say.

A contract worth $131.2 million was signed between Colombia’s Air Force and the Israeli company last week. The Air Force chose the system as its preferred solution in 2018, and the Army made the same determination in May 2022.

The delivery of the missiles is expected to take place by the end of September 2026.

The MX and Barak 8 missiles were offered by IAI to the Colombian Navy already in 2017.

With a battle-management center built around an Elta Systems-made ELM-2084 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, along with data fed from sensors, the Barak MX provides multilayered defense against aircraft and missiles. Its advanced fire control system can simultaneously detect, track and engage several targets.