Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow 3: How Israeli missile defence works | About That

Without the Iron Dome, Israel would be in permanently grave danger. Its short-range but highly effective mobile interceptors have shot down thousands of incoming rockets from the sky to date, but Iron Dome alone would not have been able to repel Iran's massive airstrike this weekend, the source of the attack had multiple fronts with

missile

s and drones launched not only from Iran itself but also from Iraq, Syria and Yemen the nature of the attack also varied suicide drones cruise

missile

s ballistic missiles and the timing of the attack was staggered with the relatively slow moving drones being They sent first.

Iran's cruise missiles were fired about an hour later and the more powerful Salvo was the last ballistic missile capable of closing the gap between Iran and Israel in a matter of minutes, all scheduled to attack at about the same time. No, the Iron Dome was just one piece of Israel's defense. puzzle, two others, David Sling and Arrow 3 have dramatically different capabilities, different ranges, and even different approaches to destroying incoming missiles and aircraft. Then, in addition to the three, Israel has another trump card, let's review that video posted online by the Israeli military 3 years ago. It makes the Iron Dome the base of Israeli missile defense, is agile, and especially useful when the attacker is launching rockets from outside your door tonight.

Israel's Iron Dome intercepts barrage of rockets fired by Iran-backed militia group Hezbollah, at least 2,200 rockets were fired towards Israel we are seeing a massive barrage of Iron Dome interceptions in the sky. This is the most used air defense system in the world by far, Iron Dome makes headlines because it is the main line of defense against incoming attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah rockets from Gaza and along the border of Israel with other countries are literally on wheels so they can move and they move often to keep the enemy guessing and there are believed to be at least 10 Iron Dome batteries, each capable of firing 20 Tamir missiles.

In quick succession, the Wall Street Journal did a pretty nice explanation specifically about the Iron Dome a few years ago, showing how it's made up of three parts, so you have radar command and control and the missile batteries themselves are a radar for detecting enemy missile launches in real time, as they happen, transmits information about the speed and trajectory of an incoming rocket to a nerve center that must then determine where the attack is actually headed and whether it is headed toward people or key military assets. If so, it launches a guided missile that is in constant communication. with the ground, so the interesting thing is that the missile never reaches the incoming rocket, it explodes nearby, it is a proximity interceptor and that explosion is what knocks out the target.

The advantage of a proximity system is that, in other words, you don't actually have to hit the target missile, you can get close enough. The Israeli military says Iron Dome boasts a 90% success rate, but I'll add that that number is highly disputed, in part because Iron Dome doesn't actually attempt to intercept all incoming rockets, only those that are missed. they direct. towards strategic objectives and partly because there is no clear explanation for the successes and failures beyond what Israel claims to say either way the Iron Dome is a base layer of Israel's anti-missile defense to reach further into a field in the one Israel trusts very different Technology for the first time The David The

sling

shot was put into operational use to intercept two Islamic Jihad rockets.

The David

sling

shown in this military video is a relatively new addition to Israel's defensive capability according to the Israeli military. Its first successful real-world launch was just a year ago against two incoming rockets, both fired. by Islamic Jihad one against Jerusalem the other against Tel Aviv David's sling has a much longer range than the Iron Dome (hundreds of kilometers) and also eliminates a wider range of targets, not only rockets but also missiles cruise and even ballistic missiles. David's sling missiles have two-stage Propulsions, so stage one is launched, once it burns up, it separates and then the second system takes over to get the missile to its target.

This second stage gives it more power, more speed, more range, it also launches vertically meaning it can change course in 360 degrees. Depending on where your target is coming from, and unlike the Iron Dome, David's sling shots hit to kill interceptors, what that means is that you have these kinds of sophisticated sensors on board and these guidance systems that track the threat. incoming and the missile hits its target directly. seems to be quite effective we can say that the system as a whole was extremely successful this was the test this was the first real challenge um these were large numbers most experts did not think that Iran would launch this volume of missiles um and it was extremely effective, but even so these are not the biggest weapons in Israel's defensive arsenal;

They are capable of shooting at much farther targets and at incredible speed. Part of the system that operates at the highest altitude is the AR3 system and is now actually designed to intercept ballistic missiles traveling on a trajectory through space. The Arrow series of missiles may be the first case of space warfare that humanity has seen in October. last, a few weeks after the October 7 attack by Hamas. Israel's Arrow 2 intercepted a long-range ballistic missile. fired by Houthis in Yemen, that interception occurred high above the Earth's atmosphere, literally in space, just over a week later, an Arrow 3 intercepted another missile from Yemen, this one aimed at the city of Aot, in the southern Israel, and it's hard to know for sure, there's no clear data on this, but it's believed that the Aero defense network, which is what you're seeing here in this video from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, is what Israel relied on to stop most of the more than 100 Iranian ballistic missiles launched last Saturday by weapons systems that We have discussed that the Arrow is capable of flying as far as it is exoatmospheric, so atmospheric EXO means that it flies very high and It is hypersonic, meaning it travels more than five times the speed of sound.

The thing about the

arrow

is that it is designed for longer range systems in In other words, a long range missile that is being fired at Israel and these longer range missiles, because they go much higher in the atmosphere, They descend much faster, so you need a faster Interceptor, one that can also go further, that's what sets Arrow apart from David's Sling and Iron Dome, Arrow 3, they can even launch into space. before knowing where the target missile is headed. It can change direction dramatically in mid-flight and, like an eagle spotting its prey, it can launch a bomb that crashes directly into the incoming threat. to kill, you know, I started out by saying that Iron Dome alone doesn't explain how Israel was able to so effectively repel Iran's attack, but even these three systems working together don't give us a complete picture of the defenses that Israel can handle. count because for that we have to look well outside Israel's borders, according to several media reports, two American squadrons of F-15 Eagles shot down dozens of attack drones in the air heading towards Israel.

Two Navy destroyers in the Mediterranean intercepted several ballistic missiles, some of which missiles and several drones had not even been launched, were attacked and preemptively destroyed in Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen. According to the US Central Command, in total it destroyed more than 80 suicide drones and at least six ballistic missiles intended to attack Israel from Iran. and Yemen, the UK Prime Minister confirmed that his country's typhoon. The planes also shot down several Iranian drones. Jordan 2 says it intercepted several flying objects entering its airspace and other countries such as Saudi Arabia provided intelligence. The allied ship is extremely important for Israel and uh, you know, Israel is a very small country geographically, uh, in terms of its size, it has a very advanced military, but it is very dependent on assistance, especially from the US. , Israel has proven to be incredibly resilient to attacks, there is no precedent for this type of attack on this scale by Iran, but keep in mind that it also knew this attack was coming, it attacked the Iranian consulate in Syria 2 weeks ago and killed two Iranian generals, would likely have expected retaliation and had at least days of advance warning from the United States that Iran was surprisingly transparent not only publicly but also privately through back-channel diplomatic channels with the United States and Israel to indicate clearly an attack was coming, but still, of the 300 drones and missiles Iran launched, a dozen or so managed to hit an Israeli air base and seriously injure a 7-year-old girl, so now, while Israel evaluates its next move, to counterattack or reduce tension, it will have to take into account how willing its partners will be to fight a broader war because If one thing has become clear, it is that Israel counts on its allies not only for its financing but also for its firepower.

You can't do it alone.