With Arrow, David’s Sling and the Iron Dome, Israel has been able to defend itself against a variety of airborne threats.
By Mindy Rubenstein, World Israel News
Israel’s Arrow air defense system successfully shot down a long-range missile from Yemen headed toward Eilat this week, while David’s Sling intercepted a medium range missile headed from Gaza to Haifa, and the Iron Dome continues to knock down shorter-range missiles in the south and center from Gaza.
The use of these systems during the current war has showcased Israel’s aerial, multi-tiered defense array.
While the Iron Dome has received most of the media coverage this past decade, the Arrow is the top tier of Israel’s missile shield, according to the IDF.
Last week it was announced that the Arrow missile defense system shot down a ballistic missile for the first time, in this instance fired at Israel by Houthi terrorists – Iran’s proxies in Yemen.
The Arrow system, developed by Israel Aerospace Industries in conjunction with the Israeli and US defense establishments “demonstrated today that Israel possesses the most advanced technology for defense against ballistic missiles at various ranges,” said IAI CEO and President Boaz Levy.
In 2017, it shot down a Syrian surface-to-air missile that missed Israeli aircraft.
Uzi Rubin, “the father of the Arrow,” and a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Security and Strategy, said that the ballistic missile from Yemen was a more difficult target and was the quality of target for which the Arrow was produced.
Rubin, who is also associated with the Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, said that the Arrow’s use in 2017 was more of an out-of-the-box use of the Arrow, which had not really proven that it would be successful against a higher-quality threat, like ballistic missiles.
The Iron Dome has previously been the main tool for shooting down lower-quality short-range rockets from Hamas, and occasionally from Hezbollah.
First developed in 2011, it is considered to be one of the most advanced air-defense systems in the world.
David’s Sling, in the middle tier, can intercept a wide variety of airborne threats, in particular cruise missiles.
According to Rubin, Israel can now present to Iran and the rest of the region that it has a fully operational missile defense against ballistic missiles.
In 2022, then-US CENTCOM chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said that Iran had over 3,000 ballistic missiles, not counting its increasing number of cruise missiles.
And Israel managed to shoot down the long-range missile while defending against threats on other fronts: the South, the North, and ongoing in Judea and Samaria.
Israel was recently forced to activate its David’s Sling medium-range air-defense system as well, having to expand beyond its frequent use of the Iron Dome. As sirens sounded in northern Israel communities near Haifa, residents nearby could hear the explosion of the intercepted missile shot from Gaza toward the coastal city.
Hamas launched at least one Ayyash 250 rocket — a two-year-old weapon believed to be the longest-range projectile that the terrorist group possesses, with an operational range of 155 miles — according to local media reports.
Daniel Hagari, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) top spokesperson, later confirmed that David’s Sling was activated to intercept the rocket.
Together, these three defense systems protect Israel and its roughly 8,500 square miles of territory from artillery, drones, rockets, and missiles.
According to Israel’s foreign ministry, many of the initiatives that fall under the country’s Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) operate in close collaboration with the US and receive joint funding. The three weapons systems, for example, were developed as a result of cooperation between the two countries.
“The great relationship between these two organizations also translates into the cooperation between Israeli and American defense industries, which serve as key contributors to the development and production processes of the defense array,” Israel’s foreign ministry says in a fact sheet about its air-defense capabilities.
To help Israel sustain its defense, the Pentagon announced the delivery of Iron Dome missile interceptors — alongside artillery and other munitions — as part of an ongoing effort to outfit Israel with security assistance. Iron Dome has a reported intercept success rate of around 90%, but some inbound threats do manage to break through.
“David’s Sling significantly strengthens Israel’s aerial defense strategy and is a central factor in Israel’s multi-tiered defense array, providing additional protection against short and medium range threats, and complementing the capabilities of the Arrow and the Iron Dome systems,” according to Israel’s foreign ministry.
“Arrow-3 serves as the top layer of Israel’s defense array. Its interceptor is a world-class missile that, together with the Arrow-2, significantly expands the State of Israel’s defense capabilities,” Israel’s foreign ministry says in its fact sheet. “The Arrow-3 system’s capabilities enable longer range, higher altitude (exo-atmospheric), and more precise ballistic missile engagements.”
Outside of these multi-range defense systems, Israel is also one of approximately 20 countries that operates the MIM-104 Patriot missile defense battery, which is a U.S.-made truck-mounted surface-to-air missile system.
“Today, Israel is protected by a multi-layered defense array, which includes the Arrow-2, Arrow-3, David’s Sling, and Iron Dome active defense systems,” according to the Ministry of Defense. “Together, they defend Israel against various airborne threats.”
The post Israel showcases multi-level air-defense network appeared first on World Israel News.