The Israel Defense Force calls its mobile air defense system IRON DOME. Tasked with defending civilian and industrial targets it’s been documented as having a very high success rate.
An IDF mission statement for Iron Dome states its purpose is to intercept and destroy rockets and artillery shells aimed at Israeli targets. The Jerusalem Post reported a 90% interception accuracy rate against over twelve hundred rockets fired by Hezbollah. Additional developments and upgrades have increased the effective range of the system and added the ability of a single battery to intercept targets from several simultaneous directions.
New upgrades to the system can even calculate the trajectory of incoming missiles and decide whether to intercept those headed for inhabited areas or ignore those headed for open fields.
Rafael Advanced Defense systems, which has coordinated the development and production of Iron Dome, David’s Sling and Arrow missile defense systems, has announced the sale of batteries of the air defense systems to the US Army, Azerbaijan and India. Some European nations are engaged in talks with Israel to buy the system.
Written by Richard J Paracka
