Israel to Test Anti-Missile System

Reports from the Middle East indicate that Israel is prepared to launch a fresh series of tests on an anti-missile system designed to protect the Jewish state from rocket launches originating from the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and southern Lebanon. Hamas militants launch rockets at Israeli towns on a daily basis, although most cause little damage to property and few casualties.

Previous tests on the system, known as the "Iron Dome," have revealed problems with the ability to intercept incoming hostile missiles. According to the Center for Defense Information, an independent defense analysis firm, the failure of the Iron Dome system to intercept Palestinian launched Qassam rockets has raised questions about both the cost and the effectiveness of the anti-missile platform.

Israel has expended considerable effort in recent years to develop an anti-missile system in order to protect Israeli citizens from not only short range missiles originating in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, but possible future launches from regional adversaries, including Iran. The Iron Dome system, manufactured by Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, is still several years away from becoming fully operational.

One of the problems noted by CDI is that the Iron Dome system can take up to thirty seconds to engage an incoming missile, while a Qassam rocket can take as little as nine seconds to reach the northernmost Israeli towns. Cost effectiveness is also an issue, with each Iron Dome missile costing around $100,000, an astronomical figure given the relatively low cost, only a couple of hundred dollars, of the inaccurate rockets that constantly bombard Israel. Jane's Information Group, a world-renowned defense analysis organization, says the Iron Dome interceptors, known as Tamirs, are equipped with highly sensitive proximity warheads designed to blow up close to an inbound missile, a technology which negates the requirement for the interceptor to actually hit the target it is intercepting.

Each Iron Dome missile battery consists of one radar system manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries' Elta Systems, a fire control center, and three missile launchers with twenty missiles in each, according to Jane's. One Iron Dome missile battery can provide anti-missile protection up to approximately 150 square kilometers for short range incoming missiles. If missiles are launched at Israel from greater distances, the coverage area of the Iron Dome system increases.

Israel has long cited incessant rocket and missile attacks from the Palestinian territories as a reason for continued economic and military measures against residents of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Sources: CDI, Jane's