The power of the Iron Dome, #Rafael #irondome #airdefencesystem #military, MASA Military

During the 2006 Second Lebanon War, approximately 4,000 Hezbollah-fired rockets, the great majority of which were short-range Katyusha rockets, landed in northern Israel, including in Haifa, the country's third largest city. The rocket barrage killed 44 Israeli civilians and caused approximately 250,000 Israeli citizens to evacuate and relocate to other parts of Israel while an estimated 1 million Israelis were confined in or near bomb shelters during the conflict.

In February 2007, Defense Minister Amir Peretz selected "Iron Dome" as Israel's defense against this short-range rocket threat. The Iron Dome defense system is designed to handle a large number of rockets and mortars. It has excellent very short range air defense capabilities.

The Iron Dome has three components: a radar that detects incoming rockets; a command-and-control system that determines the threat level; and an interceptor that, if the system determines human lives or infrastructure are at risk, seeks to destroy the incoming rocket before it strikes.

The interceptor of the Iron Dome is the Tamir missile, which is 9.8 ft long, 6.3 in diameter, weighs 200 lbs, and has a maximum flight speed of Mach 2.2. It is mainly used to intercept rockets within a range of 2.5 to 40 miles.

In "Operation Protective Edge" launched by Israel in 2014, Iron Dome played a large role. During the 50-day conflict, the Iron Dome defense system shot down 735 rockets fired from Gaza that were determined to be a threat. Iron Dome is thought to have a 90% successful interception rate.