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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Iron Dome ups interception rate to over 90%
2012-03-11
The Israel Air Force's Iron Dome counter rocket defense system intercepted 27 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip over the weekend, raising the interception rate from 75 percent last year to over 90%.

Israel currently has three Iron Dome batteries in operation -- in Ashkelon, Ashdod and Beersheba - and plans to deploy the fourth in the coming months. Its plan is to deploy a total of nine batteries by mid-2013.

The battery in Ashdod intercepted 11 rockets out of 13 fired into the city; the battery in Ashkelon intercepted one rocket and purposely did not intercept four others since they were heading to open fields; and the battery in Beersheba intercepted 15 and allowed two others to land in open fields. The radar enables Iron Dome operators to predict the landing site of the enemy rocket and decide not to intercept it if it is slated to fall in an open field. Each interceptor costs around $50,000 and usually two are fired at rockets slated for interception.
Posted by:tu3031

#8  As these rockets are unguided, any damage they might do is pretty much random. They can only fire a missile in the general direction of a town, they can't target a specific building. MOST of them do very little if any actual damage and what is done is MOSTLY superficial cosmetic damage costing much less than $50,000 to repair.

It is a political / psychological thing. It makes the political leadership appear to be "doing something" about it. But what they are doing about it really means that the missiles will keep up forever.

What I would rather see is Israel announce that for every missing that flies from Gazoo, 100 of the same type ... cheap unguided rockets hitting pretty much at random ... will fly back.

27 rockets at Israel, 2700 rockets back.

Announce the policy in advance, don't do it in secret. Once they have to pay in spades for what they dish out, it will probably stop after only a few such return volleys. Return fire should happen in seconds of the launch of a rocket from Gazoo. People should get a clear realization that a rocket going out is going to result in a hundred coming in.

Right now the terrorists in Gaza and the population that supports them pay no consequence for their actions. Israel takes out some high level commander so some organization pays some kind of price, but the people of Gaza don't pay the sort of price the people if Israel do.
Posted by: crosspatch   2012-03-11 22:54  

#7  X-patch's calculations leave out two important things:

1) the cost of damage that paleo-rockets would do if they were NOT intercepted. I would also factor in the cost of induced terror from a successful missile strike.

2) the Paleos have recently upgunned and are launching heavier, more effective ordinance than their previous pitiful but still annoying bottle rockets.

Terror has always been a cheap way to wage unconventional war, but it is not without it's own unique costs as a glance at the Gaza-related topics here at the Burg shows. CIA World Factbook puts the Israeli economy at 235 billion. I suspect the Paleos will run out of Gaza before the Israelis run out of money.
Posted by: SteveS   2012-03-11 20:32  

#6  I would rather like to see a "counter battery" system where as soon as the missile launch is detected, a return missile is launched in the general direction of the launch location.

The inbound missile's trajectory is calculated back to its origination point and this location is loaded in the return missile while it is in flight. You should be able to put return fire on the originating locations within seconds of firing a missile at Israel.

If the return missile never gets a good target load, it self-destructs.

The point is to make the shooter pay a consequence for their action. With Iron Dome as it is today, the shooter wins with every round they fire. They do $100,000 worth of "damage" to the economy of Israel for every $100 they spend with no direct consequence to themselves.

27 rockets intercepted over the weekend means the Gazoos spent $2.7 thousand and Israel $2.7 million. A few more "successes" like that for Israel and the country goes broke.

Posted by: crosspatch   2012-03-11 19:06  

#5  Personally I think they should take the cost out of the aid the Palieo's get.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2012-03-11 18:07  

#4  The problem is that shooting down a $100 missile with two $50,000 missiles can eventually lead to bankrupting the defender.

Posted by: crosspatch   2012-03-11 16:10  

#3  The next thing this should do is calculate the launch point and initiate immediate counter-battery fire. Do it so quickly that the rounds hit before the launch team can shoot and scoot.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2012-03-11 13:56  

#2  still way too expensive. While C-RAM is apparently insufficient for the task, the laser version might do the trick, saving Iron Dome for the big stuff.

The Germans hold the copyright, and would likely be willing to sell it to the Israelis.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2012-03-11 11:49  

#1  thumbs up!
Posted by: Kojack   2012-03-11 06:49  

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