What is Israel's Iron Dome? Here's how the missile defense system works

The Iron Dome rocket defense system, oregon "Kippat Barzel" successful Hebrew, is wide regarded arsenic 1 of the astir important tools successful Israel's antiaircraft arsenal.

Designed to support Israeli citizens from aerial attacks by launching guided missiles to intercept incoming rockets and different short-range threats, the mobile all-weather defence strategy has been afloat operational since March 2011.

Israel's Defense Ministry says the strategy has been upgraded respective times and "successfully prevented countless rockets from hitting Israeli communities."

The Iron Dome was developed successful Israel by state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems with U.S. backing — and Washington continues to supply funding for it.

Israel's Defense Forces say the Iron Dome is simply a compilation of respective features: the exertion itself, the machinery utilized to intercept incoming rockets, the soldiers who run the strategy and the commanders who supervise the network.

In practice, the Iron Dome uses radar to way incoming rockets and determines whether the missile's trajectory threatens a protected area, specified arsenic a strategically important tract oregon colonisation center.

If the rocket does airs a threat, a bid and power halfway responds by launching its ain Tamir rocket to intercept it.

The strategy is not configured to occurrence extracurricular of a protected area, however, and rockets that don't endanger radical oregon buildings are typically ignored and permitted to land.

A 2023 Congressional Research Service report described the Iron Dome arsenic a mobile anti-rocket, anti-mortar and anti-artillery strategy that tin intercept launches from 2.5 to 43 miles away.

It is estimated to person astatine slightest 10 batteries deployed nationwide, each of which is designed to support a 60-square-mile populated area. Each artillery is equipped with 3 to 4 launchers and each launcher contains up to 20 Tamir interceptors.

The Center for Strategic International Studies, a U.S. deliberation tank, has estimated that a azygous Iron Dome artillery costs much than $100 cardinal to produce.

Since 2011, the United States has provided billions of dollars to Israel for Iron Dome batteries, interceptors, co-production costs and wide attraction since it became operational.

Much of this wealth has been appropriated by Congress, wherever bipartisan majorities have consistently voted in favour of providing backing to Israel's Iron Dome.

The Iron Dome has its weaknesses, however.

Analysts person warned that the defence strategy could brushwood challenges erstwhile responding to dense rocket fire.

The Center for European Policy Analysis, a U.S. deliberation tank, said successful June 2021 that the strategy was perchance susceptible to a "saturation" attack, designed to overwhelm the Iron Dome shield with simultaneous rocket attacks from aggregate directions.