Israel’s multi-layered air defense system that protected it from 99% of Iran’s drone and missile attacks
An intricate network of Israel’s missile defense technology faced a serious test of its mettle on Saturday night, with ’99 percent’ of an airstrike launched from Iran.
Approximately 170 Iranian drones, 120 ballistic missiles and over 30 cruise missiles had been fired from Iranian territory during the attack, which hovered over 1,100 miles.
Iran’s airborne phalanx was repulsed by ground-based anti-aircraft missiles with names like ‘Iron Dome’, ‘David’s Sling’ and ‘Arrow-3’, the latest hardware in Israel’s oft-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 bombardments at bay.
First operational in 2011, Israel’s Iron Dome faced its first test over a decade ago, when militants in Gaza fired an estimated 1,500 rockets at Israel over eight days in November 2014 — at least 10 Iron Dome missile batteries are known to exist, in total ( like this one in the picture above)
Iron Dome
First operational in 2011, Israel’s Iron Dome faced its first test over a decade ago when militants in Gaza fired an estimated 1,500 rockets at Israel over eight days in November 2014.
In the dome’s decade of operation, Israel Defense Forces officials have reported a 90 percent success rate: a statistic that is difficult to assess since the system is designed to go after only those rockets headed for real damage.
Each of the 10 Iron Dome missile batteries known to exist is equipped with radar to detect airborne targets and a link to an automated command-and-control system for remote launch calculations.
When one of the dome’s missile batteries detects a rocket on its radar, it relays speed and trajectory data to its control center, which then uses that information to determine whether the rocket is likely to hit a populated area.
A missile is fired from the battery’s array of 20 interceptor missiles only if the detected rocket poses a real threat, a cost-saving measure given the low-tech barrage of rockets fired by Hamas, Hezbollah and other regional militants whose equipment tends to be smaller than exact.
Israel’s solution to the Iron Dome cost problem, the Iron Beam laser, is currently in development. Above, President Joe Biden walks with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz (left of Biden) in front of an Iron Beam prototype (left) and an Iron Dome battery (right) in July 2022
Israel reportedly ‘jammed’ GPS signals in the days before Iran’s Saturday night series of missile strikes in an attempt to confuse Iranian enemies (pictured above)
The Iron Dome system is also designed to intercept rockets and missiles flying in high arcs that might otherwise make the objects more difficult to counter.
But the hardware has not been without its share of criticism in the domestic market. Early in his operation, a military analyst and former fighter pilot at Israel’s Tel Aviv University, Reuven Pedatzurfor example, argued that the Iron Dome was too expensive.
Militants, Pedatzur argued, could effectively drain Israel’s budget as expensive Dome missiles, which can run up to $100,000 apiece, were wasted on militants’ dramatically cheaper rockets, which at the time cost about $5.
Israel’s laser blast solution to the cost issue, called Iron Beam, is currently in development.
Iron Beam’s 100 kilowatt laser is designed to intercept and detonate threats as structurally different as rockets, artillery, mortars and drones from miles away.
“I had seen the system when I was last in Israel, I saw the first prototype,” US Army Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology Doug Bush said last November. ‘It is exciting.’
“There’s potential, if theirs works well, that could be something we could think about leveraging for our needs in that space,” Bush told DefenseScoopadding that the Iron Beam served as a compliment to the Pentagon’s own Indirect Fire Protection Capability-High Energy Laser (IFPC-HEL) prototype program.
Iran said it attacked Israel late Saturday in “self-defense” after an April 1 attack on its diplomatic mission in Damascus that was widely blamed on Israel. Above the missiles from Saturday
The latest and arguably the pinnacle of Israel’s current system, the Arrow 3, was created specifically to destroy ballistic missiles armed with nuclear and other ‘non-conventional’ warheads coming in from space-based orbits (above)
Like the Arrow-3, David’s Sling, formerly called the Magic Wand, is a two-stage rocker with a powerful reach to intercept larger missiles. These anti-aircraft missiles have a range of 160 miles and can travel at speeds up to Mach 7.5 (above 0)
Arrow-3
The latest and arguably the pinnacle of Israel’s current system, the Arrow 3, was created specifically to destroy ballistic missiles armed with nuclear and other ‘non-conventional’ warheads coming in from space-based orbits.
Israel’s top military spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, said after last Saturday’s attack that the Arrow-3 had ‘proved itself against a significant number of ballistic missiles’ fired by Iran over the weekend.
Its missile interceptor missiles are significantly larger than those fired by the Iron Dome, which are typically only 6 inches wide and 10 feet long and guided by miniature sensors for short-range missile targets.
Arrow-3 missiles, on the other hand, are two-stage rockets, 23 feet long in size, and can travel at hypersonic speeds.
David’s Sling
Like Arrow-3, David’s Sling, formerly called the ‘Magic Wand’ is a two-stage rocket with a powerful range to intercept larger missiles.
According to the Missile Threat Project on 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 travel at blinding speeds up to Mach 7.5.
In particular, the SkyCeptor was designed to be a more cost-effective, but no less effective, replacement for American-made Patriot missiles.
Each of these interceptors has two targeting and guidance systems installed at the tip of the missile’s nose along with an electro-optical sensor to further identify its target.
David’s Sling was a collaboration between Israeli defense firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and US defense titan Raytheon, which has made everything from fighter jet radar to NSA listening posts for US national security.
Originally, the joint project was developed specifically to fight medium-range missiles allegedly held by the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, north of Israel.
But other US allies are now pursuing Raytheon partnerships for their own version of SkyCeptor – including Romania, which launched a three-year investment project in 2023 to build the missile interceptors, in part because of the conflict in nearby Ukraine.