Iron Dome air defense system protects Israeli people

This air defense missile system is one of the most important tools in Israel's arsenal and has protected the Israeli people in many conflicts over the past decade.

The system is extremely effective. The Israel Defense Forces said it had a 95.6 percent success rate in intercepting a barrage of rockets launched by Islamic Jihad in May.

Development of the Iron Dome system began in 2007. After a series of tests in 2008 and 2009, the first launcher was put into operation in 2011. Since then, the system has been continuously upgraded and improved.

World - Iron Dome air defense system protects Israeli people for the past decade

Iron Dome is designed to shoot down incoming missiles. It uses radar to detect incoming missiles and uses command and control systems to quickly calculate and assess whether the missile will pose a major threat or will simply hit an uninhabited area. Iron Dome is capable of intercepting incoming missiles from the air.

There are 10 Iron Dome systems deployed around Israel, each consisting of three to four launchers, according to information from Raytheon and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The system is highly mobile and can be deployed in just a few hours. The interceptor missiles mounted on these systems are also highly mobile. The Tamir missiles are 3m long, 15cm in diameter and weigh 90kg.

The warheads on the Tamir missiles are believed to carry 11kg of explosives. The range of these missiles is between 4km and 70km.

Notably, unlike air defense systems designed to intercept ballistic missiles, Iron Dome is a system designed to intercept low-altitude missiles, the type of missiles commonly launched by militant organizations in Gaza.

Each Tamir missile costs up to 40 thousand USD to produce.

The US government has paid $1.5 billion for the Iron Dome program and related research. A US official told CNN that Israel is likely to request additional interceptor missiles in addition to other military aid from Washington after Saturday's attack.

Nguyen Quang Minh (according to CNN)

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