ieExplains: What are Israel's Iron Dome and Arrow missile defences?
Intercepting Israel's Dome System Iron Rockets
Israel’s multilayered air defence system appears to have passed another test after fending off Iran’s latest missile barrage.
In Tuesday’s night’s strike, Iran fired over 180 missiles toward Israel. The attack set off air raid sirens across the country and sent residents scrambling for shelter, but caused only a handful of minor injuries and limited damage, in large part because many were intercepted or landed in open areas.
It was the latest success for an air defence system that over the past year has intercepted projectiles fired from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Iran. They have ranged from short-range rockets to medium-range missiles to attack drones to long-range ballistic missiles like those fired Tuesday night.
In Tuesday’s attack, the US and Britain said they assisted in shooting down the incoming missiles. Explosions also were seen over the skies of Jordan, though it remains unclear who carried out the interceptions.
But the vast majority of Israel’s air defence over the past year has been carried out by Israel itself. Over the decades, Israel has developed a sophisticated system capable of detecting incoming fire and deploying only if the projectile is headed toward a population center or sensitive military or civilian infrastructure. Israeli leaders say the system isn’t 100% guaranteed, but credit it with preventing serious damage and countless casualties.
Here’s a closer look at Israel’s multilayered air-defense system:
Developed with the US, the long-range Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 interceptors, developed by Israel with an Iranian missile threat in mind, are designed to engage threats both in and outside the atmosphere, respectively.
It operates at an altitude that allows for the safe dispersal of any non-conventional warheads.
State-owned Israel Aerospace Industries is the project's main contractor, while Boeing is involved in producing the interceptors.
On October 31, Israel's military said it had used the Arrow aerial defence system for the first time since the October 7 outbreak of the war with Hamas to intercept a surface-to-surface missile fired from the area of the Red Sea towards its territory.
Last September, Germany signed a letter of commitment with Israel to buy the Arrow-3 system for nearly €4bn.
Also developed with the US, David’s Sling is meant to intercept medium-range missiles. The system is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles fired from 100km to 200km away.
Developed and manufactured jointly by Israel's state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the US RTX Corp, formerly known as Raytheon, David's Sling is also designed to intercept aircraft, drones and cruise missiles.
This system, developed by Israel with US backing, specialises in shooting down short-range rockets, the kind fired by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza.
It became operational in 2011 and has intercepted thousands of rockets since — including thousands of interceptions during the current war against Hamas and Hezbollah. Israel says it has a success rate of over 90%.
Developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, each truck-towed unit fires radar-guided missiles to blow up short-range threats like rockets, mortars and drones in mid-air.
Rafael says it delivered two Iron Dome batteries to the US Army in 2020. Ukraine is seeking a supply as well in its war with Russia, though Israel has so far only provided Kyiv with humanitarian support and civil defences.
A naval version of the Iron Dome to protect ships and sea-based assets was deployed in 2017.
The system determines whether a rocket is on course to hit a populated area; if not, the rocket is ignored and allowed to land harmlessly.
Iron Dome was originally billed as providing city-sized coverage against rockets with ranges of between 4 and 70 km (2.5 to 43 miles), but experts say this has since been expanded.
Israel is developing a new system to intercept incoming threats with laser technology. Israel has said this system will be a game changer because it would be much cheaper to operate than existing systems.
According to Israeli media reports, the cost of a single Iron Dome interception is about $50,000, while the other systems can run more than $2m per missile. Iron Beam interceptions, by contrast, would cost a few dollars apiece, according to Israeli officials — but the system is not yet operational.