Watch Video: Israel's Iron Dome Defence Intercepts Scores of Gaza Rockets

Jenny Lee May 15, 2021 | 10:44

Watch video Israel's Iron Dome air defence system intercepts scores of Gaza rockets in skies above Tel Aviv.

Video: Israel's Iron Dome defence intercepts scores of Gaza rockets

Watch video Israel's Iron Dome defence intercepts scores of Gaza rockets

Lats weeks, the skies over Israeli cities have been lit up by more than 1,500 rockets fired by Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza — and rippled with the traces of small explosions as Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system missiles have blown many of the crude weapons out of the sky.

Thousands of rockets have been intercepted by the mobile air defence system, including during violent clashes with Gaza in May 2021.

Check out video Israel's Iron Dome:

The system was ready for use in March 2011 and in April it had successfully intercepted a BM-21 Grad launched from Gaza for the first time. In March 2012 The Jerusalem Post reported that the Iron Dome had shot down 90 per cent of rockets launched from Gaza that would have landed in populated areas.

As of Friday, according to Israeli officials, militants in Gaza fired 2,200 rockets, with the Iron Dome intercepting 85 to 90 percent of rockets that threaten people or infrastructure.

While eight Israelis (all but one civilians) have been killed by the rockets that have evaded the Iron Dome, Israeli Defense Forces’ retaliatory airstrikes and artillery strikes had reportedly killed 119 Palestinians in Gaza, including 10 Hamas leaders and 31 children, and injured more than 800 as of Friday. So far, Israel’s U.S.-built F-16 jets and artillery systems have struck at least 150 targets across the impoverished enclave, home to 2 million Palestinians, and leveled three high-rise buildings with links to Hamas.

What is Iron Dome air defence system

THE Iron Dome in Israel is the first missile interceptor of its kind in the world, and is said to have a 90 per cent success rate at bringing down targets. The system has been in place for about a decade, developed with heavy financial and technical backing from the United States.

The Iron Dome is a mobile, all-weather air defence system in Israel designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and 155mm artillery shells fired from a distance of 4km to 70km.

It intercepts rockets that are travelling in the direction of a urban areas and brings them down - it is the first system of its kind in the world. Developed by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, if can be operated in all weather conditions including fog, dust storm, low clouds and rain. Israel hopes to increase the range of the dome's interceptions to 250km and make it able to stop rockets coming from two directions.

The Iron Dome gives Israel what Jean-Loup Samaan, a research affiliate with the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore who has studied Israel’s missile defense, called an “insurance policy” — it reassures citizens and protects against loss of life and property damage.

Iron Dome is an air defense system, meaning that its objective is to intercept incoming rockets on Israeli territory. The project started in 2007 and became active around 2011.

Basically, it has three components, which is the case for most air defense systems: radar that detects the incoming rocket; a command-and-control system that processes that information and then activates the third component, which is the interceptor — basically a missile whose role is to destroy the other rocket.