“We intercepted. We countered. Together we will win,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. job on X following the attack.
Here’s what you need to know about Israel’s air defense system.
One of the centerpieces of Israeli air defense is the Iron Dome, developed by the Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries. First put into service in 2011, it is designed to stop short-range rockets and artillery like those frequently fired from Gaza by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
How the Israeli Iron Dome
air defense system works
A radar unit detects a missile or shell heading towards Israeli airspace.
Missile data is sent to combat management and Control unit which assesses the threat and plots an interception trajectory.
A shooting unit launches a missile equipped with radar and a special warhead that strikes the incoming threat.
How the Israeli Iron Dome
air defense system works
A radar unit detects a missile or shell heading towards Israeli airspace.
Missile data is sent to combat management and Control unit which assesses the threat and plots an interception trajectory.
A shooting unit launches a missile equipped with radar and a special warhead that strikes the incoming threat.
How the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system works
A radar unit detects a missile or shell heading towards Israeli airspace.
Missile data is sent to combat management and Control unit which assesses the threat and plots an interception trajectory.
A shooting unit launches a missile equipped with radar and a special warhead that strikes the incoming threat.
Relying on a radar and analysis system, the Iron Dome determines whether an incoming rocket poses a threat and only fires an interceptor if there is danger to a populated area or important infrastructure. Israeli officials and defense companies have said Iron Dome has a success rate of more than 90 percent, although some defense analysts question those figures.
David’s Sling, the middle layer of Israel’s air defense network, is designed to intercept ballistic and cruise missiles as well as medium- and long-range rockets. It has been operational since 2017.
Developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Raytheon, a major U.S. defense contractor, David’s Sling is designed to counter rockets and missiles fired at ranges of 25 to 186 miles.
Israel’s defense systems
Each Iron Dome battery can defend an area of up to 58 square miles.
Iron Dome is an Israeli mobile missile defense system designed to intercept rockets and artillery at close range. It is intended to counter unguided attacks by rockets and drones.
Defense system intended to prevent attacks by planes, helicopters, bombers, cruise missiles, drones and stand-off weapons.
Python-5 for short range engagements and Derby for medium range engagements.
It is designed to intercept ballistic and cruise missiles. Capable of intercepting targets at altitudes up to 15 km.
Upper layer of the Israeli missile defense system. The Arrow 3 is the longest-range interceptor currently used with the Arrow weapon system, complementing the Arrow 2, which engages targets in the upper atmosphere.
6 to 12 Stunner
interceptor
missiles.
Note: Not all Israeli defense systems are included.
Sources: CSIS, Rafael, Army Reconnaissance
Israel’s defense systems
Each Iron Dome battery can defend an area of up to 58 square miles.
Iron Dome is an Israeli mobile missile defense system designed to intercept rockets and artillery at close range. It is intended to counter unguided attacks by rockets and drones.
Defense system designed to prevent attacks by planes, helicopters, bombers, cruise missiles, drones and stand-off weapons.
Python-5 for short range engagements and Derby for medium range engagements.
It is designed to intercept ballistic and cruise missiles. Capable of intercepting targets at altitudes up to 15 km.
Upper layer of the Israeli missile defense system. The Arrow 3 is the longest-range interceptor currently used with the Arrow weapon system, complementing the Arrow 2, which engages targets in the upper atmosphere.
6 to 12 Stunner
interceptor
missiles.
Note: Not all Israeli defense systems are included.
Sources: CSIS, Rafael, Army Reconnaissance
Land defense
Israel systems
Each Iron Dome battery can defend an area of up to 58 square miles.
Iron Dome is an Israeli mobile missile defense system designed to intercept rockets and artillery at close range. It is intended to counter unguided attacks by rockets and drones.
Defense system intended to prevent attacks by planes, helicopters, bombers, cruise missiles, drones and stand-off weapons.
20 container launchers each
with a Tamir missile.
Two types of missiles, the Python-5 for short-range engagements and the Derby for medium-range engagements.
It is designed to intercept ballistic and cruise missiles. Capable of intercepting targets at altitudes up to 15 km.
Upper layer of the Israeli missile defense system. The Arrow 3 is the longest-range interceptor currently used with the Arrow weapon system, complementing the Arrow 2, which engages targets in the upper atmosphere.
6 to 12 Stunner Interceptors
missiles.
Note: Not all Israeli defense systems are included.
Sources: CSIS, Rafael, Army Reconnaissance
Land defense
Israel systems
Each Iron Dome battery can defend an area of up to 58 square miles.
Iron Dome is an Israeli mobile missile defense system designed to intercept rockets and artillery at close range. It is intended to counter unguided attacks by rockets and drones.
Defense system designed to prevent attacks by planes, helicopters, bombers, cruise missiles, drones and stand-off weapons.
It is designed to intercept ballistic and cruise missiles. Capable of intercepting targets at altitudes up to 15 km.
Upper layer of the Israeli missile defense system. The Arrow 3 is the longest-range interceptor currently used with the Arrow weapon system, complementing the Arrow 2, which engages targets in the upper atmosphere.
20 container launchers each
with a Tamir missile.
6 to 12 Stunner Interceptors
missiles.
Two types of missiles, the Python-5 for short-range engagements and the Derby for medium-range engagements.
Note: Not all Israeli defense systems are included.
Sources: CSIS, Rafael, Army Reconnaissance
The Arrow 2 and 3 systems are designed to intercept missiles flying outside the Earth’s atmosphere and are the top tier of Israel’s air defense network.
Completed in 2017, the Arrow 3 was first tested in combat last year, intercepting a missile fired by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen toward the Israeli city of Eilat. Jointly funded and developed with the United States, it does not use explosives like the Arrow 2, but relies solely on the damage caused by the interception itself.
As attacks were launched from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, a US-led coalition including Britain and France provided crucial support.
Among the U.S. forces that participated were the 494th Fighter Squadron, headquartered in Britain, and the 335th Fighter Squadron from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. The two squadrons flew F-15E Strike Eagles and shot down about 70 attack drones heading toward Israel, the Washington Post reported.
The destroyers USS Carney and USS Arleigh Burke, stationed in the eastern Mediterranean, shot down between four and six ballistic missiles while U.S. troops from the Patriot Missile Defense System in Erbil, Iraq, shot down a missile that had violated Iraqi airspace on its vector. in Israel, according to a senior military official speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, in accordance with ground rules established by the White House.
British Royal Air Force planes shot down “a number of Iranian attack drones”, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said. said.
Jordan, which has criticized Israel’s war in Gaza, shot down munitions in its airspace to prevent them “from endangering the security of our citizens and residential and populated areas”, its government said.
Dan Lamothe, Alex Horton, Adam Taylor and Brittany Shammas contributed to this report.
washingtonpost
