The number of Hamas Qassam missiles, launched in just over a week into Israeli territory, was huge. By comparison, during the 50-day conflict in 2014, only about 4,881 rockets were launched. Iron Dome is an important part of Israel’s multi-layered air defense system; including systems to intercept short-, long-range and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Israel’s Iron Dome is an all-weather, mobile air defense system developed by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries. The Iron Dome system was put into service and deployed for the first time in March 2011 near the city of Beersheba. Right on the first launch, it successfully intercepted a BM-21 Grad rocket, launched from the Gaza Strip.
Rocket War
Iron Dome is designed to intercept and destroy short-range missiles and rockets within ranges from 4 km to 70 km. The system’s radar and software can calculate the trajectory of enemy missiles, if it doesn’t pose a danger to residential areas, the system will stop launching interceptors. Each Iron Dome system includes target detection radar; weapons control and tactical management center, and three or four launchers, each with 20 Tamir interceptors.
In March, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced that it had completed the upgrade of the Iron Dome system. According to the AP news agency, the IDF currently uses at least ten Iron Dome systems, which are deployed throughout Israel. Each system can take care of defending a medium-sized city against a missile attack.
The last “Rocket war” could be considered the best marketing ever for a defensive weapon system. According to an analysis by Breaking Defense, it kicked off negotiations between Israel and the US on the purchase of additional low-altitude missile defense systems for the US Army. A defense source said: The fact is that the Iron Dome successfully intercepted a series of rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, as well as armed drones. This is creating great concern between the Israeli and US defense ministries.
Soucre: military-wiki.com
