Iron Dome system achieves first short range rocket interception

[SamurAchzar]

Although some stuff has been available for a while to deal with short range rockets and missiles, such as Phalanx, this is the first time a missile-based system manages to intercept short range rockets.

The system itself is pretty smart, automatically ignoring rockets that are estimated to hit open areas. It only targets the rockets set to hit population centers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Dome

JPost article:

15 Grads fired overnight; Hamas commander killed in IDF strike on Gaza Strip; IDF strikes terror infrastructure in Rafah, Khan Younis.

Fifteen Grad-model rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory overnight Friday. The Iron Dome rocket-defense system intercepted five of them in the Beersheba and Ashkelon areas, Israel Radio reported.

Saturday morning two additional Grad rockets were fired at Ofakim and 25 mortar shells were fired into the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries were immediately reported. Dozens of mortar shells were fired overnight.

The Iron Dome system intercepted three Grad rockets in the Ashkelon region and 2 rockets in the Beersheba area. Including shorter-range Kassams, a total of over 50 rockets were fired from the Strip on Friday

Three Hamas commanders were killed in an IAF airstrike early morning Saturday on a car in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Palestinian news agencies reported a fourth Hamas man was killed in an IDF strike late Saturday morning. The IDF said it was looking into the reports.

Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported that other IDF strikes took place overnight in Gaza City, a Hamas training base in the northern Strip and a neighborhood in Khan Younis.

Artillery strikes were reported in the Rafah area along the Strip's southern border with Egypt.

Since Friday night, four Palestinians were killed in IDF strikes, Israel Radio reported. That brought the total number of Palestinians killed since Thursday to 16, at least four of whom were civilians.

Five Israelis were reportedly injured when scrambling to enter bomb shelters as rockets were being fired into their areas.

That adds to the successful anti-tank missile interceptions by TROPHY, mounted on Merkava tanks, recently achieved at Gaza, see here.

This signifies a new era in Middle Eastern warfare as two of the strategic weapons used by terrorist organizations - anti tank missiles and short-to-medium range rockets are countered by Israeli systems.

Gaza terrorists have since changed their rocket targeting to try and hit Israeli cities which are not yet covered by Iron Dome but as deployment advances, this will change.

Meanwhile, IAF managed to locate and respond to most of the rocket launched, killing multiple terrorists.

 

[PeshakJang]

Your headline is wrong... should read "Israel MURDERS innocent Palestinian rocket"

 

[Tom]

Pretty impressive. If this works well it could make Israel secure enough to risk giving Palestinians more autonomy.

And could reduce the threat of N Korean artillery to Seoul.

 

[Matt1970]

Your headline is wrong... should read "Israel MURDERS innocent Palestinian rocket"

And falling debris lands on Palestine house injuring innocent Hamas opperative, setting off his explosives killing 3 others.

 

[Jaskalas]

Is there no laser defense system capable of being deployed for this task?

Missile to missile seems so antiquated.

 

[wuliheron]

Military lasers and particle beam weapons are only now reaching the practical stage and as far as I know the US is only country that has them.

 

[K1052]

Is there no laser defense system capable of being deployed for this task?

Missile to missile seems so antiquated.

Testing has been done between the US/Israel, notably the THEL system.

Issues still remain with portability, power, and range which are still being worked out. The HELLADS system is currently in development to remedy these problems, IIRC.

 

[Nebor]

Sounds better than our Patriot system, which has (arguably) never scored a confirmed kill on an enemy missile\rocket.

 

[freegeeks]

shooting down a $100 qassam rocket with a $35000 rocket is not a very cost effective way of protecting a population. Israël will be broke if Hamaz shoots 4000 rockets like they did in 2006.

 

[Tom]

shooting down a $100 qassam rocket with a $35000 rocket is not a very cost effective way of protecting a population. Israël will be broke if Hamaz shoots 4000 rockets like they did in 2006.

How many of the 4000 landed in fields or vacant lots ? I think I remember 1 hitting a hospital, was that in 2006 ?

Saving one hospital for $35g is cheap.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

They are doing it wrong. If the system can predict the rockets path then it can locate where the rocket came from. The system should automatically launch a missile at the rockets source. That would be a much more cost effective deterrent.

 

[wuliheron]

They are doing it wrong. If the system can predict the rockets path then it can locate where the rocket came from. The system should automatically launch a missile at the rockets source. That would be a much more cost effective deterrent.

Rockets are not ballistic and even some ballistic projectiles can change their course with a simple twist of a fin.

 

[wuliheron]

How many of the 4000 landed in fields or vacant lots ? I think I remember 1 hitting a hospital, was that in 2006 ?

Saving one hospital for $35g is cheap.

Cheaper still just to kill 20 Palestinians for every Israeli.

 

[lothar]

Sounds better than our Patriot system, which has (arguably) never scored a confirmed kill on an enemy missile\rocket.

False.
You're thinking of the old Gulfwar I patriot systems and not the recent ones.
The recent ones did very well in Bush Jr.'s Gulfwar II AFAIK.

 

[davmat787]

They are doing it wrong. If the system can predict the rockets path then it can locate where the rocket came from. The system should automatically launch a missile at the rockets source. That would be a much more cost effective deterrent.

I wonder where they would start firing the rockets towards Israel from if it had this capability?

I know there are acoustic systems in use in Iraq that will locate the direction of a gun report. It has 8 or so microphones in an array, and within a second or so will tell the operator where the shot came from, direction as well as attitude I believe. Very useful for locating snipers, I am sure Nebor knows the name of this system.

 

[wuliheron]

I wonder where they would start firing the rockets towards Israel from if it had this capability?

I know there are acoustic systems in use in Iraq that will locate the direction of a gun report. It has 8 or so microphones in an array, and within a second or so will tell the operator where the shot came from, direction as well as attitude I believe. Very useful for locating snipers, I am sure Nebor knows the name of this system.

If these are anything like the old rockets they used they're portable. You fire a few from one location and move on to the next.

 

[Anarchist420]

Missile defense systems are so ridiculous and a huge waste of taxpayer money.

 

[bfdd]

Missile defense systems are so ridiculous and a huge waste of taxpayer money.

well if no one had missiles you wouldn't need a defense system for them. same reason a bullet proof vest was invented, chain mail, hardened leather on wood, etc etc etc. armor exists because a weapon exists.

 

[SamurAchzar]

This system is for a different purpose than Patriot, as it's designed for short range rockets and missiles and not against ballistic missiles (or aircraft, which is the original purpose of Patriot).

They are doing it wrong. If the system can predict the rockets path then it can locate where the rocket came from. The system should automatically launch a missile at the rockets source. That would be a much more cost effective deterrent.

The system detects the source and IAF has aircraft loitering around Gaza destroying the launchers and crew within minutes of launch. IAF reported 10 launch teams have been hit.

shooting down a $100 qassam rocket with a $35000 rocket is not a very cost effective way of protecting a population. Israël will be broke if Hamaz shoots 4000 rockets like they did in 2006.

As Tom said this system only targets rockets that are set to hit population or strategic facilities. You should compare the interceptor cost not to the Palestinian rocket but to the potential damage averted. Looking at it this way, it's peanuts.

Of course the question is why Israel allows Hamas to launch rockets at its civilians in the first place but that's for another discussion.

 

[Nebor]

False.
You're thinking of the old Gulfwar I patriot systems and not the recent ones.
The recent ones did very well in Bush Jr.'s Gulfwar II AFAIK.

Proof? Are you an Air Defense Artillery officer? Because the couple that I know know of no proven instances of any patriot engaging a non-breathing airborne threat successfully in combat. The patriot is good for shooting down planes\helicopters though (we have the most effective kill record against friendly aircraft.) Billing it as an effective anti-missile\rocket shield is just more of Raytheon sticking it to the American tax payer.

 

[nonlnear]

As Tom said this system only targets rockets that are set to hit population or strategic facilities. You should compare the interceptor cost not to the Palestinian rocket but to the potential damage averted. Looking at it this way, it's peanuts.

The appropriateness of that analysis depends on the strategic intent of one's opponent. If the Palestinians started using Iron Dome's cost as a way to wage economic war on Israel (by launching, say, 200 rockets a day), then the strategic effectiveness of Iron Dome would be nullified. Granted, such an influx of rockets would inevitably lead to the nature of the scenario changing pretty quickly!

 

[the DRIZZLE]

The appropriateness of that analysis depends on the strategic intent of one's opponent. If the Palestinians started using Iron Dome's cost as a way to wage economic war on Israel (by launching, say, 200 rockets a day), then the strategic effectiveness of Iron Dome would be nullified. Granted, such an influx of rockets would inevitably lead to the nature of the scenario changing pretty quickly!

Yeah this is really meant to stop a small number of rockets. Hamas is playing a game where they launch as many rockets as they can without provoking a major Israeli response. They know politically the Israelis can't launch a major offensive over a small number of rockets. This takes that strategy away.

 

[wuliheron]

Yeah this is really meant to stop a small number of rockets. Hamas is playing a game where they launch as many rockets as they can without provoking a major Israeli response. They know politically the Israelis can't launch a major offensive over a small number of rockets. This takes that strategy away.

It's the Hatfields and the McCoys doing anything to keep that hate alive.

 

[SamurAchzar]

The appropriateness of that analysis depends on the strategic intent of one's opponent. If the Palestinians started using Iron Dome's cost as a way to wage economic war on Israel (by launching, say, 200 rockets a day), then the strategic effectiveness of Iron Dome would be nullified. Granted, such an influx of rockets would inevitably lead to the nature of the scenario changing pretty quickly!

Even if each and every one of those 200 rockets was intercepted by Iron Dome, it would only cost Israel 7 million USD a day. Now launching such massive attacks would make the launchers very vulnerable and probably within 2 days IDF would disable most of the launching capabilities.

Now there's an awesome video of a live intercept:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4054360,00.html

You can hear the early warning sirens in the background, then the interceptor firing, homing on the rocket and exploding. So far the record has been flawless (about 6-7 intercepts in few days). Very nice system, that.

 

[Nebor]

Even if each and every one of those 200 rockets was intercepted by Iron Dome, it would only cost Israel 7 million USD a day. Now launching such massive attacks would make the launchers very vulnerable and probably within 2 days IDF would disable most of the launching capabilities.

Now there's an awesome video of a live intercept:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4054360,00.html

You can hear the early warning sirens in the background, then the interceptor firing, homing on the rocket and exploding. So far the record has been flawless (about 6-7 intercepts in few days). Very nice system, that.

Very impressive.