Arrow, David’s Sling and Iron Dome: How Israel countered Iran’s deadly missiles

It’s Iran vs Israel once again. West Asia continues to simmer after the Islamic Republic launched a missile attack at Israel – around 180 were fired.

Iran said Tuesday’s strike was in response to Israel’s “aggressive attacks” – the killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and Revolutionary Guard’s commander General Abbas Nilforushan in Lebanon last week and the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.

The attacks reportedly hit Mossad HQ in Tel Aviv, Nevatim Air Base and Tel Nof Air Base, a school in central Israel and a restaurant in the capital. Iran claims that 90 per cent of its missiles successfully hit targets while Israel says most were intercepted. While one person died in the West Bank, there is no other report of casualties or serious injuries yet.

So how did Israel thwart a barrage of missiles? The country’s military chief Herzi Halevi said Tuesday that the Iranian barrage had been blunted partly by “a very strong aerial defence array”. What are they?

Iron Dome

Videos that have surfaced since the attack show missiles streaking past the skies of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Many of these were intercepted by the famous Iron Dome at work.

𝐍𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞.

This is Israel right now.

RT this so the entire world knows. pic.twitter.com/ok8CxCXxnP

— Israel ישראל (@Israel) October 1, 2024

One of the most sophisticated air defence systems in the world, the Iron Dome has been designed to thwart short-range rocket and missile attacks. It uses a radar to detect threats like rockets, missiles, drones and even mortars. Once detected, the Iron Dome fires its interceptor missiles to take out the projectiles.

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The system determines if a projectile is likely to hit a populated area. If not, it lets the rocket land as it would cause minimum damage.

The Iron Dome was developed by Israel with the support of the US and became an operation in 2011. It was been widely used since the 7 October Hamas attacks. Over the past year, it has intercepted thousands of projectiles launched by Hamas from Gaza and Hezbollah from Lebanon.

Israel has deployed 10 Iron Dome batteries across the country. They provide city-size coverage against rockets with ranges between four to 70 kilometres, reports ABC News.

Each Iron Dome interceptor costs $40,000 to $50,000 to produce, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The think tank estimated that a complete system, including the radar, computer and three to four launchers, each containing up to 20 interceptors, costs around $100 million to produce.

David’s Sling

While the Iron Dome is the most spoken about, it alone might not be enough to thwart the many threats Israel faces. It operates along with David’s Sling, which is an air defence system for medium to long-range rocket or missile attacks.

Known as the “magic wand”, it was developed in a joint effort by US firm Raytheon (now US RTX Cor) and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and has been fully operational since 2017.

David’s Sling is built to work against tactical ballistic missiles, medium- to long-range rockets, enemy planes, drones and cruise missiles, including the Scud missiles. Its multi-mission interceptor, known as Stunner and SkyCeptor, takes out targets as far as 186 miles (about 300 kilometres) away, according to the Missile Threat project at CSIS. It can also intercept targets at an altitude of 14.4 kilometres.

The Stunner comes without a warhead; it reportedly relies on impact to destroy targets. It is deployed to intercept cruise missiles, which Iran launched at Israel in the latest attack, along with drones and aircraft.

Arrow 2 and 3

I srael’s Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems, jointly developed with the US, are above David’s Sling.

The long-range Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 interceptors were developed with an Iranian missile threat in mind. They are designed to engage threats both in and outside the atmosphere, respectively.

This system operates at an altitude that allows for the safe dispersal of any non-conventional warheads.

According to CSIS, Arrow 2 is designed to defeat short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. The two-stage, solid-propellant missile intercepts targets in the upper atmosphere. It has a range of 56 miles (90 kilometres) and a maximum altitude of 32 miles (51 kilometres).

“To engage targets, it features a finned kill vehicle with an explosive-fragmentation warhead, which can focus its blast in a direction specified by the missile seeker. If the missile fails to strike the target directly, this warhead detonates within 40 – 50m of the target. Arrow 2 features two seekers – an active-radar seeker and a US-produced imaging infrared seeker – for endgame navigation and warhead fuzing,” says the CISS.

The Arrow 3 missile defence interceptor is also designed to defeat medium-range ballistic missiles. It uses a hit-to-kill warhead to engage targets in space. It is the longest-range interceptor currently fielded with the Arrow Weapon System, complementing the Arrow 2, which engages targets in the upper atmosphere, according to CSIS.

Israel’s military said it had used the Arrow aerial defence system for the first time since the October 7 war with Hamas to intercept a surface-to-surface missile fired from the area of the Red Sea towards its territory.

Laser-based system

Apart from these established air defence systems, Israel is also developing a laser-based system to neutralise enemy rockets and drones at an estimated cost of just $2 per interception, according to Reuters.

This development could revolutionise aerial defence by significantly lowering costs while maintaining effectiveness against enemy rockets and drones.

With inputs from agencies