The Israeli Iron Dome air defense system has recently successfully intercepted and destroyed 97% of the rockets and missiles fired by terrorists from Gaza.
Following the results of less than two days since the start of the recent conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip, it became known that more than 780 rockets and missiles were fired into Israel. The vast majority of aerial threats were successfully destroyed by Israeli air defense systems, which made it possible to avoid destruction and casualties on the territory of the Jewish state.
According to Israeli Defense Forces sources, a total of 780 rockets were fired, 180 rockets fell in the Gaza Strip (killing 14 Palestinians, 18 injured), 330 fell in areas of no particular importance and were not intercepted, and another 270 interceptions were committed while trying to attack Israeli cities. With an almost 97% success rate, the Iron Dome is the highest in the history of the use of such a complex, which makes it one of the most effective and trusted air defense system in the world.
The leaders of the Islamic Jihad (a terrorist group banned in many countries) announced that they would continue to attack Israel, and to date, more than 850 missiles and rockets have already been fired at the territory of the Jewish state, while according to various sources, up to 4,000 missiles and rockets of various types may be in service with Palestinian radicals.
About the Iron Dome short range air defence system of the Israeli Defense Forces
The Iron Dome is a mobile all-weather short-range air defense system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries. The system is specifically designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets, missiles and artillery shells fired from distances of 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to 70 kilometres (43 mi) away and whose flight trajectory would take them to an Israeli populated area. From 2011 to 2021, the United States contributed a total of US$1.6 billion in the development of the Iron Dome defense system, with another US$1 billion approved by the US Congress in 2022.
Iron Dome was declared operational and initially deployed on 27 March 2011 near Beersheba. On 7 April 2011, the system successfully intercepted a rocket launched from Gaza for the first time. On 10 March 2012, The Jerusalem Post reported that the system shot down 90% of rockets launched from Gaza that would have landed in populated areas. In late 2012 Israel said that it hoped to increase the range of Iron Dome’s interceptions, from a maximum of 70 kilometres (43 mi) to 250 kilometres (160 mi) and make it more versatile so that it could intercept rockets coming from two directions simultaneously.
In November 2012, official statements indicated that it had intercepted over 400 rockets. By late October 2014, the Iron Dome systems had intercepted over 1,200 rockets.
In addition to their land-based deployment, it was reported in 2017 that Iron Dome batteries would in future be deployed at sea on Sa’ar 6-class corvettes, to protect off-shore gas platforms in conjunction with Israel’s Barak 8 missile system.