once
The goal is,
In April and October, Iran launched two of the largest ballistic missile attacks in history against Israel. The world’s most advanced missile defense systems, deployed by Israel and the United States, stopped some, but not all, of the missiles.
Neither attack caused significant damage, but some Israeli and U.S. officials said they may have been lucky that the situation was not worse. After Israel attacked Iran last week, Iranian officials threatened another round of retaliation, although their plans remain unclear.
Here are some reasons why preventing a ballistic missile attack is difficult:
Ballistic missiles, like the one launched by Iran last month, leave the atmosphere and accelerate to incredible speeds before falling to Earth. Analysts estimate that Iran’s missiles took only about 12 minutes to reach Israel. But there was much less time to make important decisions about how to stop them.
Within seconds,
Also known as defensive missiles
It’s hard enough with just one missile. But Iran fired.
Radar can only track so many targets at once, and once emptied, launchers can require 30 minutes or more to reload.
Additionally, if future attacks are a concern, the target country may need to make urgent decisions.
After Iran’s second shelling in October, Israel said its defense systems had shot down many of the missiles and that the damage from those that did hit appeared to be limited.
But satellite images show that bombardment using more advanced missiles has created dozens of craters at the Nevatim air base. If the missile had landed in a populated area, the casualties and destruction would have been enormous.
Israel’s best-known defense system, Iron Dome, was built to stop short-range rockets, but is too slow and limited for ballistic missiles. To achieve this, Israel relies on several advanced layers of defense designed to counter ballistic missiles at various stages of flight.
The most advanced systems, long-range interceptors like the Arrow 3, operate in space, where ballistic missiles like those launched by Iran spend most of their time. This is your first chance to stop the missile, but high above the atmosphere there is no room for error.
both
What the Interceptor is after
Missiles like Iran’s latest missiles are only
If that’s not enough, some ballistic missiles
It’s unclear how often upper-atmosphere interceptions actually work. Governments tend to avoid disclosing specific blocking rates, and even if blocking fails, there are good reasons to present a positive picture. The same goes for companies that manufacture expensive systems.
Combined with U.S. missile defense systems in the region, Israel now has the largest number of missile defense systems in the world. If outer layer defenses fail to stop the missiles, short-range systems that intercept missiles closer to the ground may get another chance.
But time goes by quickly. The closer a ballistic missile gets, the more dangerous it becomes. And even if an interception is successful at lower altitudes, the resulting debris can still be lethal.
Once a missile successfully re-enters the atmosphere, it often takes less than a minute to strike.
effective defense
As the missile approaches the ground
Attackers can utilize a variety of tactics. Allows you to fire a cheaper salvo to distract enemies.
Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Iran last week targeted missile production sites and degraded Iran’s ability to produce missiles of the type it launched in October. The attack damaged at least one rocket production facility and a fuel mixer that makes propellant for Iran’s missile fleet.
It is unclear how Iran will respond and whether it will launch another ballistic missile, but if it does, the fundamental imbalance of the missile war will remain. In other words, launching a ballistic missile is much easier than stopping it. And building a ballistic missile is cheaper and faster than building an interceptor and shooting it down.
In a protracted conflict, the question could be which side will run out of missiles first.
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