With Iran's missile attack on Israel marking major escalation in the ongoing war in Middle East (West Asia), all eyes are on Israel's response. In early hours of Wednesday (October 1) according to Indian Standard Time (IST), Iran launched nearly two hundred missiles towards Israel. The attack led to air raid warnings in almost the whole of Israel. The latest missile attack from Iran was larger that the one carried out in April and as per claims by Iran, hypersonic technology was used in the attack this time around. Israel's Iron Dome air defence system was active and struck down many missiles but as per Israel Defense Forces (IDF), some missiles landed in central and southern part of the country. Iran has claimed that 90 per cent of its missiles hit their target.
What Is Iron Dome? How does Iron Dome Work?
Israel developed the Iron Dome system with America's help primarily to guard its population from Palestinian militant group Hamas's missile attacks. It was indeed a necessity over years as Hamas has been using the strategy to fire missiles into Israel in order to sustain pressure on its armed forces.
Iron Dome air defence system was activated in the year 2011.
As per Raytheon, a US-based defence giant which co-produces the system, an Iron Dome battery is a mobile unit which has three to four missile launchers, 20 missiles along with a radar.
When activated, the system's radar searches for incoming missile towards the area it is guarding. It then calculates the trajectory of the incoming missile to see if it is headed to a populated area.
If the system detects that the incoming missile is indeed travelling towards a populated area, Iron Dome fires its own missile which intercepts the incoming enemy missile.
If the system detects that the enemy missile is headed to an unpopulated, open area, then it is allowed to land. This is done in order to conserve Iron Dome's own missiles.
Israeli military maintains that all interceptions take place inside Israeli airspace.
Is Iron Dome fool-proof? How effective is it?
Rafael Defense Systems, the Israeli firm that co-produces Iron Dome with Raytheon, has previously been quoted in media reports as saying that the system is about 90 per cent effective.
How effective was Iron Dome during latest Iranian Missile Attack?
As per reports in Western media, most Iranian missiles were shot down by the Iron Dome but several managed to hit their target.
BBC reported citing its correspondent in Jerusalem that some military bases in the country may have been hit along with restaurants and a few schools.
