Israel’s multi-layered air defense system that protected the country from 99% of Iranian drone and missile attacks
A complex network of Israeli missile defense technology was put to a serious test of its capabilities on Saturday evening, with “99 percent” shot down by an airstrike from Iran.
The attack involved around 170 Iranian drones, 120 ballistic missiles and more than 30 cruise missiles launched from Iranian territory, with a range of more than 1,800 kilometers.
Iran’s airborne phalanx was repelled by ground-based anti-aircraft missiles with names like the ‘Iron Dome’, ‘David’s Sling’ and ‘Arrow-3’, the latest hardware in Israel’s regularly updated national defense arsenal.
Below is an overview of the equipment Israel has developed, sometimes with the help of US military contractors, and how it keeps the bombing under control.
Israel’s Iron Dome first became operational in 2011 and was first tested more than a decade ago, when militants in Gaza fired an estimated 1,500 rockets into Israel over eight days in November 2014 – there are at least 10 Iron Dome in total rocket batteries known. like this one pictured above)
Iron dome
Israel’s Iron Dome first became operational in 2011 and was first tested more than a decade ago, when militants in Gaza fired an estimated 1,500 rockets into Israel over eight days in November 2014.
In the 10 years the dome was in use, Israeli army officials have reported a 90 percent success rate: a statistic that is difficult to assess since the system is designed to only go after missiles that are on course for real injury.
Each of the ten known Iron Dome missile batteries is equipped with radar to detect airborne targets and a connection to an automated command and control system for remote calculations.
When one of the Dome’s missile batteries detects a missile on radar, it transmits speed and trajectory data to the control center, which then uses that information to determine whether the missile is likely to hit a populated area.
A missile is fired from the battery’s array of twenty interceptor missiles only if the detected missile poses a real threat, a cost-saving measure given the low-tech barrage of missiles fired by Hamas, Hezbollah and other regional militants, whose equipment the tends to be not exactly precise.
The Iron Dome system is also designed to intercept missiles and rockets flying in high arcs, which could otherwise make counterattacking the objects more difficult.
However, the hardware has not gone without criticism in its own country. Early in the operation, a military analyst and former fighter pilot at Israel’s Tel Aviv University said Reuven Pedatzurargued that the Iron Dome was too expensive.
Militants, Pedatzur argued, could effectively drain Israel’s budget because expensive Dome rockets, as expensive as $100,000 each, were wasted on militants’ cheap rockets, which at the time cost about $5.
The newest and perhaps the pinnacle of Israel’s current system, the Arrow 3, is specifically designed to shoot down ballistic missiles armed with nuclear and other “non-conventional” warheads arriving from space (above)
Like the Arrow-3, the David’s Sling, formerly called the Magic Wand, is a two-stage rocker with a powerful range for intercepting larger missiles. These anti-aircraft missiles have a range of 260 miles and can travel at speeds up to 7.5 Mach (above 0
Arrow-3
The newest and perhaps the pinnacle of Israel’s current system, the Arrow 3, was created specifically to shoot down ballistic missiles armed with nuclear and other “non-conventional” warheads arriving from space.
Israel’s chief military spokesman, Admiral Daniel Hagari, said after Saturday’s attack that the Arrow-3 had “proven itself against a significant number of ballistic missiles” fired by Iran over the weekend.
The interceptor missiles are significantly larger than those fired from the Iron Dome, which are typically only 6 inches wide and 10 feet long, and are guided by miniature sensors for short-range missile targets.
Arrow-3 missiles, on the other hand, are two-stage rockets, 7 meters long, and can travel at hypersonic speeds.
David’s garland
Like the Arrow-3, the David’s Sling, previously called the ‘Magic Wand’, is a two-stage missile with a powerful range for intercepting larger missiles.
According to the Missile Threat project of the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS), the system uses both Stunner and SkyCeptor kinetic so-called ‘hit to kill’ interceptors.
These anti-aircraft missiles have a range of over 160 miles and can fly at blinding speeds of up to 7.5 Mach.
The SkyCeptor in particular is designed to be a more cost-effective but no less effective replacement for US-made Patriot missiles.
Every one of these interceptors has that two targeting and guidance systems installed in the tip of the missile’s nose, along with an electro-optical sensor for further identification of the target.
David’s Sling was a collaboration between Israeli defense company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and US defense titan Raytheon, which has created everything from fighter jet radar to NSA listening posts for America’s domestic national security.
Originally, the joint project was developed to specifically combat medium-range missiles reportedly possessed by the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, north of Israel.
But other U.S. allies are now pursuing Raytheon partnerships for their own version of SkyCeptor — including Romania, which launched a three-year investment project to build the missile interceptors in 2023, partly due to the conflict in nearby Ukraine.