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The fact that the damage caused by the Iranian attack was extremely low is due to Israel’s high-performance air defense system: several systems protect the country from missiles. An overview.
Drone defense with “Patriot”
The oldest component of Israel’s anti-aircraft defense system are American-made “Patriot” systems. During the Gulf War in 1991, they were supposed to be used to defend against “Scud” missiles from Iraq, but the Israeli armed forces classified the system alone as not powerful enough and announced that they would develop a missile protection shield themselves.
Today, Israel uses an adapted version of the MIM-104D Patriot under the name “Yahalom” (Hebrew for “diamond”) for drone defense. In 2014 there were reports of the “Yahalom” shooting down of a Syrian military aircraft that had entered the airspace of the Golan Heights, which had been annexed by Israel for decades, and in 2018 there was another report of the shooting down of a Syrian aircraft in Israeli airspace.
“Arrow” vs Long-range missiles
The defense system called “Arrow” has a range of 2,400 kilometers – it can reach projectiles in the stratosphere with its defense missiles. “Arrow” was conceived together with the USA in the late 1980s and has been further developed since then, so that Israel now uses “Arrow 2” and “Arrow 3” missiles and is researching “Arrow 4”. An Arrow unit includes a radar system, a control system and a missile launcher.
In the current Gaza war, among other things, missiles from the militant Houthis from Yemen were intercepted by “Arrow” systems.
“Iron Dome” against mortar shells
The “Iron Dome” is intended to protect Israel against mortar shells and other short-range projectiles with a range of 17 kilometers. It consists of at least ten defense system units, each with three components: a radar system, a trajectory calculator and mobile launchers for the interceptor missiles. According to Israel, thousands of rockets have been intercepted since it was launched in 2011 – the manufacturer Raphael attributes a success rate of 90 percent to “Iron Dome”.
In August 2019, the US signed a purchase agreement for two “Iron Dome” units to strengthen its own air defense against short-range missiles.
“David’s Sling” against medium-range missiles
In order to be protected against medium-range projectiles, Israel, together with the US defense company Raytheon, developed the defense system “David’s Slingshot” with “Stunner” interceptor missiles, which, with a range of around 25 kilometers, can fend off long-range artillery rockets and short-range ballistic missiles, among other things.
The system was used for the first time in 2018, and in 2023 it was used to repel a “Badr 3” rocket that was fired from the Gaza Strip towards Tel Aviv, and since October 7th also an “Ajash-250” rocket in the fight against the terrorist organization Hamas.
In 2023, Finland announced that it had ordered a “David’s Sling” defense system from Israel for its armed forces.
“Iron Beam”: With laser power against missiles
Since at least 2010, Israel has been developing a complementary system that is supposed to be able to intercept projectiles and flying objects such as drones at short range using a fiber laser. Initially planned as a mobile system, it will now be put into service as a stationary system in 2025.
According to the Defense Ministry, the “iron beam” is being used on a test basis, among other things, in the fight against the terrorist organization Hamas on the southern border of the Gaza Strip.