Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel on Tuesday in response to the assassination of the head of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah. and the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, in the second attack of this type by Tehran against the Hebrew country in almost six months.
According to the criteria of
Anti-aircraft alarm sirens resounded throughout the territory and dozens of explosions were heard over Jerusalem. During the attack, the country closed its airspace, but reopened it shortly after, airport authorities said in a statement.
The armed force intercepted a large number of missiles and stated that The Islamic Republic fired about 180 projectiles into the country.
“This attack will have consequences. We have plans and we will act in the place and at the time we decide,” reacted the spokesman for the Israeli army, Daniel Hagari.
The interception of the missiles was possible thanks to the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system, which has stopped thousands of rockets since its launch in 2011.
It is a system that has been widely used to protect military and civilian sites from frequent rocket fire from Gaza and Lebanon. within the framework of the current war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, and during the direct Iranian attacks against Israel launched this Tuesday and last April 13.
At first, Israel alone developed the Iron Dome after the 2006 Lebanon war, but then the United States joined the project, providing defense expertise and billions of dollars of financial support.
The system has an interception rate of around 90 percent, according to the Israeli military company Rafael, which participated in its design.
This is how the Iron Dome works
The “Iron Dome” is one of the elements of the Israeli missile defense system, which has several levels. It is designed to shoot down rockets with a range of up to 70 kilometers.
The ‘Iron Dome’ (Iron Drome, by its name in English), was designed by the Rafael Advanced Defense System company. “Iron Drome has become the world’s only multi-mission system that provides a combat-proven solution to defeat very short-range devices, as well as rockets and artillery, mortars (C-RAM), aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles,” says the company.
Each battery of this “Iron Dome” is made up of three main parts: a radar detection system, a computer that calculates the trajectory of the incoming rocket, and a launcher that fires interceptors if the rocket is likely to hit a built or strategic area.
In other words, according to the newspaper La Nación, “The dome works with a radar and analysis system to determine if a rocket in flight is a threat, and only fires an interceptor if the projectile threatens to land in a populated area or with important infrastructure. “Otherwise, the system allows the drone or missile to land on Israeli soil if it does not pose a greater threat to its population.”
The Dome has allowed Israel to reduce damage to its key infrastructure and protect the lives of its civilians. In fact, it was highly valued on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack by air, sea and land that took Israel by surprise. That day, the Islamist group claimed to have fired more than 5,000 missiles at Israel, most of them stopped thanks to the dome work.
It also played a key role last April, when Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel in retaliation for a bombing of its consulate in Damascus.
In addition to the Dome, Israel has other missile defense systems, such as the Arrow, which acts against ballistic missiles, and the David’s Sling system, whose objective is to counteract rocket or medium-range missile attacks.
The cost of the Iron Dome
The production of each Iron Dome interceptor costs between 40,000 and 50,000 dollars (between 37,500 and 46,900 euros), according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
This institute estimates that the manufacture of a complete system, with the radar, the computer and three or four launchers – each of them, with up to 20 interceptors – costs around 100 million dollars.
Israel has 10 such systems, according to the American aeronautics and defense group RTX, which is involved in the construction of the “Iron Dome.” According to other estimates, the figure could be slightly higher.
#Iron #Dome #works #shield #Israel #defend #missiles #drones