Fifty years ago, on October 6, 1973, the biggest attack on Israel occurred. The attack deeply shook Israel. Precisely 50 years after this incident, Israel is again shaken by the attacks. On October 7, 2023, Israel trembled when 5,000 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip in 20 minutes.
People went into panic, and hundreds lost their lives. In such a situation, the question arose of how the Israeli agency Mossad, one of the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world, and its anti-rocket missile system failed to stop the attack.
The world recognizes the strength of Israel’s air defence system, ‘The Iron Dome’. Iron Dome, famous for its 90 per cent accuracy and for detecting and destroying enemy missiles in the air, could not stop Hamas attacks this time. The very next day after the establishment of Israel in May 1948, Palestine and countries like Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria attacked it, to which Israel responded befittingly. Such attacks continued to happen later also.
Israel started strengthening its borders and defence system to deal with such attacks. Iron Dome is one of the most potent weapons of Israel’s defence system. Other countries also have anti-drone systems, but Israel’s plan is considered the most powerful.
Cost Of Iron Fome
According to reports, the cost of Israel’s protective shield, Iron Dome, which can shoot down enemy missiles and rockets in the air, is around Rs 3 lakh crore. Talking about its interception range, it is from 2.5 miles to 45 miles. In 2021, the Institute for National Security Studies shared a report saying that the cost of the interceptors owned by Israel is 1 lakh, while the price of one interceptor is 50,000. Only the interceptor destroys the enemy missile. If Israel had shot down all the 5,000 rockets of Hamas, it would have cost Rs 2,079 crore.
Whereas, if we talk about Hamas missiles, it has Qassam rockets, which cost 300 to 800 dollars; that is, Hamas spends between 25 thousand to 90 thousand rupees in making one of its rockets. According to this, Israel spends lakhs of rupees to stop a missile of Hamas. The New Arab quoted Israeli experts saying Hamas can fire about 140 rockets in a minute.
How Does Iron Dome Work?
The way Iron Dome works involves three main things. First – identification and tracking of enemy missiles; second – war management and weapon control; and third – missile firing. As soon as the enemy fires a rocket towards Israel, it identifies and tracks it with the help of the Iron Dome radar system. After this, the control system detects the impact point, how much damage the rocket will cause if it is shot in the air and how far its impact will be if it is shot down in the air.
After receiving the command from the control system, the missile is fired from the launcher. This missile is called an interceptor. The missile explodes after reaching the rocket, destroying both the enemy missile and the interceptor. In Israel, the interceptor is called Tamir.
Why Did Iron Dome Fail This Time?
Iron Dome works with 90 per cent accuracy. If 100 missiles come towards him simultaneously, he will destroy 90 them in the air. Israel deployed it in 2011. Israel started building Iron Dome in 2006 after the attack by Hezbollah terrorists.
This time, Hamas fired so many rockets at Israel quickly that the Iron Dome could not stop many of them. Hamas fired more missiles than its capacity. Hamas keeps trying to find loopholes in Israel’s powerful defence system to attack it.
