Israel’s air defense system is engineered to safeguard against missiles launched from both short distances, such as those by Hamas, and longer ranges, including those that traverse the Earth’s atmosphere. The following outlines its various components and their operational mechanisms.
The ongoing conflict in West Asia intensified on October 1, when Iran launched a barrage of missiles at Israel, prompting the nation to declare its intent to retaliate.
While Tehran claimed that the majority of its missiles successfully struck their intended targets, Israel reported that many were intercepted by its air defense systems.
Israel’s air defense framework is multi-tiered, designed to counter missiles from short-range threats, like those from Hamas, to long-range missiles potentially launched by distant nations, such as Iran.
The Iron Dome is the most recognized component; however, according to the BBC, other elements of the nation’s defense systems likely played a significant role in interception during this recent escalation. In addition to the Iron Dome, systems such as David’s Sling, Arrow 2 and 3, and the Iron Beam contribute to Israel’s missile defense capabilities. Below is an overview of these systems.
Iron Dome
The Iron Dome is a short-range, ground-to-air defense system that incorporates radar and interceptor missiles to track and neutralize incoming rockets or missiles targeting Israeli locations. It is effective against rockets, artillery, mortars (C-RAM), as well as aircraft, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles. The development of the Iron Dome was initiated in response to the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon conflict, during which Hezbollah launched thousands of rockets into Israel. In the following year, Israel announced that Rafael Advanced Defense Systems would create a new air defense solution to protect its urban areas and populace, in collaboration with Israel Aerospace Industries. The Iron Dome became operational in 2011.
David’s Sling
David’s Sling represents the next tier in Israel’s air defense architecture, capable of intercepting missiles with a longer range than those targeted by the Iron Dome. This system was developed by Rafael in partnership with the US-based RTX Corp (formerly Raytheon) and was declared operational in 2017.
