Amid Israel – Palestine conflict, a video on social media went viral on 12th May 2021, showing over a hundred rockets streamed out of Hamas controlled Gaza strip towards Israel’s economic hub Tel Aviv, being intercepted by the Israeli air defense system ‘Iron Dome’ and it appeared that the rockets were hitting an invisible shield.
The development has come in the aftermath of Israel’s decision to evict Palestinians from Sheikh Jarah in East Jerusalem ahead of the march that was scheduled to be led by Zionist nationalists to commemorate Israel’s takeover on the eastern half of the city in 1967. In retaliation ‘Hamas’ (the Islamist militant group) unleashed a massive attack against Israeli civilians by launching hundreds of rockets.
“Deeply concerned at clashes & violence in Haram Al-Sharif/Temple Mount” and “equally concerned about evictions in Sheikh Jarrah & Silwan neighborhoods”, tweeted Ambassador TS Tirumurti, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN on the currently escalating Israel-Palestine conflict.
The Defence Forces of Israel have now activated its state-of-art air defense system ‘Iron Dome’ to protect its people from rocket attacks. But how the Israeli air defense system has intercepted and is able to destroy almost all incoming aerial threats, let’s understand.
Iron Dome: An all-weather partner
Developed by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, Iron Dome is a ground-to-air, short-range air defence system that consists of a system of radar, battle management, and weapon control system (BMC), and a missile firing.
Capable of being used in all weather conditions, the three-component system provides a shield over the area where it is deployed by using its interceptor batteries that denotes its Tamir interceptor missiles, a radar that tracks the rocket fired across the border, and then advanced software that predicts the rocket’s trajectory.
There three different approaches by the interceptors
The Side Approach:
The interceptors approach the incoming aerial threat by targeting the side of the rocket, on occasion, it hits the warhead ( explosive head of a missile) of the enemy’s rocket.
The Front Approach:
Considered as the most effective approach to nullify the incoming aerial threat, the front approach strikes the enemy’s rocket warhead and blows it up.
The Rear Approach:
Under this approach, the interceptors’ missile chases the aerial threat from behind to destroy it before getting near the warhead.
The genesis of Iron Dome
The genesis of the Iron Dome can be tracked back to 2006, when Israel started the air-defence program after its war with Lebanon’s Hezbollah when nearly 5,000 rockets were rained down on northern Israel, taking 44 lives. The following year, Israel initiated that its state-run Rafael Advance Systems along with Israel Aerospace Industries to make a new air defence system to protect its cities and people.
In 2011, Iron Dome was inducted by the Defence force of Israel, while manufacturer Rafael claimed a success rate of over 90%, with more than 2,000 interceptions, experts agree the success rate is over 80%. Rafael’s website mentions that “Iron Dome protects deployed and maneuvering forces, as well as the Forward Operating Base (FOB) and urban areas, against a wide range of indirect and aerial threats”.
Iron Dome’s every battery, or the full unit, can cost up to $50 million, and one interceptor Tamir missile costs nearly $80,000. At one go, the air defense system fires two Tamir missiles to intercept each rocket.
India’s air defence strategic
India is in the process of buying S-400 air defence systems from Russia. In one of the biggest defence deals in recent times, New Delhi and Moscow formally inked a – $5.2 billion – ( approx Rs 40,000 crores) deal for the weapon system when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited India in October 2018.
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