Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise attack against Israel by firing thousands of rockets from Gaza and sending fighters to kill or abduct people killing more than 200 Israelis and wounded 1,000.
Though several rockets were intercepted by Israel’s much-vaunted Iron Dome missile defence system, many others landed in Israeli territories leading to bloodiest escalation in decades.
The Iron Dome system has proved capable against defending rockets fired by the Hamas exploding them within the Gaza Strip, however, it’s not yet clear how effective the system was in Saturday’s attack.
What is Israel’s Iron Dome?
The Israeli-designed Iron Dome system is meant to protect populated areas and critical assets by neutralising short-range aerial threats. The defence system can intercept targets in the airspace and performs fast, complex calculations to detect the trajectory, speed and expected target of the rocket. It then uses these calculations to destroy the missiles in the air.
The first battery was deployed in March 2011 near the southern city of Beersheva — 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Gaza Strip, and a favourite Hamas target — to combat Soviet-designed Grad rockets fired from the Palestinian territory. Israel now has at least 10 such batteries.
How Iron Dome Works?
The Iron Dome is considered among the most advanced defence systems in the word and it uses radar to identify and destroy incoming threats in the air.
The weapon system has been designed to help combat shorter-range rudimentary weapons like the rockets fired from Gaza. Each battery of the Iron Dome has a radar detection and tracking system, a firing control system and three launchers for 20 interceptor missiles.
Each battery has a range of between 4-70 kilometres. Moreover, the batteries are mobile so they can be moved to wherever they are required.
Why is Iron Dome Significant
Iron Dome was developed by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, a state-owned arms company based in the northern city of Haifa. It is also partly funded by the United States, which committed $5 billion to its development costs in 2016.
Ever since its introduction in 2011, it has become a mainstay of the Israel’s defense.
It is one of the strategic pillars of the US-Israeli alliance which has been followed by successive Democratic and Republican administrations. In August 2019 the US Army signed a contract to purchase two Iron Dome batteries to enhance its own short-range missile defence capabilities.
Israel has other missile defence systems such as the Arrow, to counter ballistic missiles, and David’s Sling, for medium-range rocket or missile attacks.
How Hamas Dodged Israel’s Iron Dome
In the latest Hamas attack the Israel’s air defence system, , equipped with sophisticated sensors, proved no match for the heavy explosives unleashed by Hamas militants as they burst into Israel.
Hamas, has for several years now, been trying to find a weakness in the Iron Dome system. The Palestinian militant group have been successful in doing so by firing multiple rockets in a short span, making it difficult for the control system to intercept all targets.
In Saturday’s attack, over 5,000 rockets were launched in just 20 minutes. As per reports, the Iron Dome anti-rocket defense system intercepted around 90% of Gaza rockets.
Hamas is also developing its crude rocket technology and it has increased its range to cover major cities of Israel including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Moreover, a rocket launched by Hamas is much cheaper than the Tamir missile fired to intercept it. Each launch by the Irone Dome costs almost $50,000.
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