Recently, the power balance in the Levant was shaken when a war sparked in the region triggered by relentless Israeli violence. At least 212 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes since, including 61 children and 36 women, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, while more than 1,400 Palestinian citizens have been wounded.
For the first time in history, Palestinian militant group Hamas in response to Israeli atrocities in Gaza and Al-Aqsa mosque and has launched about 3000 missiles at Israel. Though 90 percent of the rockets fired were intercepted by the Iron Dome, as claimed by Israeli forces, 10 percent of them hit target deep inside the country.
The Iron Dome is Israel’s anti-missile air defense system which was first deployed in 2011 with $1.6 billion funding by the US. Iron Dome is the world’s most advanced air defense system and only six countries in the world have this air defense system.
The Iron Dome’s one functioning unit consists of three parts, and these three parts together are called a battery.
The first part of the battery is the RDU, or Radar Detection Unit that detects and identifies any moving object, missile, or rocket several kilometers before it enters Israeli territory.
The second part is the BMC or Battle Management and Control Unit. This unit develops a strategy for dealing with possible threats and immediately generates signals and notifies all units.
The third part is the MFU or missile firing unit, that fires missiles as soon as signals are received. These missiles track missiles or rockets coming into Israel through artificial intelligence and destroy them outside Israeli airspace.
Israel’s Iron Dome is considered the smartest air defense while the other countries who have air defense technology include Russia, the United States, China, France, and India.
The missiles used in the Iron Dome are state-of-the-art automatic missiles with heat and motion detector sensors, as well as metal detectors and the ability to change direction in the air. One battery unit of this automated defense system costs about 50 million USD while the cost of one missile used by the Iron Dome is up to 40 to 60 thousand USD.
Israel’s Iron Dome has deployed ten such batteries which makes Israel’s air defense invincible in the world of warfare.
In February 2021, Israel successfully tested its most updated Iron Dome which claims to have a 90% accuracy rate.
Hamas, in contrast, has homemade rockets that can mark a very limited range. The M302 Hamas missile has the longest range out of all the group’s rockets at 180 kilometers. The other five Hamas missiles have an operational radius of 75 kilometers or more. This means that to defuse a $300 missile, Israel has to fire 40 to 60 thousand USD missile.
These rockets are at least 40 years old, are made locally by cutting iron pipes in secret workshops, and cost not more than 300 US dollars. But in spite of the huge technological gap, Hamas rockets managed to defuse the world’s most advanced air defense system.
Hamas used a basic technique to break the Iron Dome, firing hundreds of missiles in different directions simultaneously. Which successfully dodged the Iron Dome’s artificial intelligence bridge and about thirteen missiles broke through the Iron Dome and landed in Israeli cities.
This successful attack by Hamas has called into question the defense systems of all world powers. The rockets wreaked havoc in Israel, and the Iron Dome became the talk of the world.
Israeli officials confirm at least 10 deaths while hundreds are said to be wounded. 146 buildings in Israel are hit by rockets fired from Gaza, according to military statistics.
A 53-year-old Israeli citizen, Yoash Hagay, said his hometown of Ashkelon, 11 kilometers from Gaza, has been hit hard, with a couple of rockets making it through Israel’s Iron Dome defense system with every barrage.
“Every time you hear a couple of interceptions by the Iron Dome, and two or three explosions on the ground,” he said.
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