Iron Dome
Updated 2024-02-25
2024-01-12 How Does Iron Dome of Israel Work? Israel’s Iron Beam is the world’s first energy-based weapons system that uses a laser to shoot down incoming UAVs, rockets & mortars at a cost of $3.50 per shot. Are energy weapons becoming a viable option for modern armies? SUPPORT Interesting Engineering. https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/webcontent/how-does-iron-dome-of-israel-work/vi-AE21i6MhsD00pA?
2024-01-12 Why Iron Beam Can’t Replace Israel’s Iron Dome Israel’s defense system known as the “Iron Dome” costs a whopping $100,000 per shot, mostly paid for by the United States, but a new defense weapon that is a fraction of the cost is on the horizon. Check out today’s epic new video to find out why Israel will never replace the “Iron Dome” despite how much it costs. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/israel-is-not-going-to-stop-until-it-finishes-the-job-nathan-sales/vi-AA1mBwTI
2021-05-20 Drones add little to rocket-filled Israel-Palestine skies, but represent growing global threat Beneath the ongoing collision of Israel’s cutting-edge and costly missile defense systems and imprecise but inexpensive Palestinian-built rockets, Hamas has begun using so-called “kamikaze drones” to try penetrating Israeli defenses another way. The Israeli government has claimed that its Iron Dome rocket defense system is effectively blocking most incoming rockets that pose a threat to Israel’s cities. Hamas has launched more than 3,000 rockets from Gaza since May 10, but Israeli officials claim most have either been intercepted by Iron Dome’s missile interceptors or did not reach significant targets (landing in unpopulated areas or failing in flight). https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/drones-add-little-to-rocket-filled-israel-palestine-skies-but-represent-growing-global-threat/#post-heading
2014-07-29 Israel’s Iron Dome: a misplaced debate Back in 2012, Israel’s Iron Dome rocket defense system was hailed as a real, working battlefield weapon that could shoot down unguided rockets before they struck Israel. Iron Dome was lauded as a game changer in the Israel-Palestine conflict; at the time, Israel claimed that it shot down 441 Hamas rockets in flight, before they could do serious damage. Admittedly, normal life in Israel was disrupted, as its citizens had to scamper to bomb shelters when the siren sounded, but that was held to be acceptable. Israeli casualties were negligible in comparison to more than 1,000 Palestinian deaths.
For the current conflict, Israel has reportedly improved Iron Dome, claiming that the system intercepts 90 percent of the rockets that it attempts to hit. It is true that there have been only two Israeli civilian casualties so far (one from mortar fire), which buttresses claims of the success of Iron Dome. Yet, while citizens of distant Tel Aviv and other cities far from Hamas’ Gaza-based rocket launch sites are now able to lead normal lives, people continue to run toward bomb shelters in areas closer to the action. https://thebulletin.org/2014/07/israels-iron-dome-a-misplaced-debate/#post-heading
2014-07-23 AS DEBUNKING CONTINUES, CONGRESS PUSHES FOR US CONTRACTORS TO PROFIT OFF IRON DOME Back in April, I wrote about the horrible success rate of Israel’s Iron Dome defense system and the outrageous sums of money that the US has poured into it. With more rockets now being fired from Gaza and Israel responding by massacring Palestinians who have no escape, the Iron Dome system is getting renewed attention. And as with much in the Israel-Palestine situation, there is the propaganda we see in much of the main press and then there is the stark reality behind it that is vastly different. Writing in The Atlantic, James Fallows noted a week and a half ago how the Washington Post had swallowed the propaganda completely, putting up the headline ‘Israel’s “Dome’ changes the fight” and provided a snippet of the Post’s praise:
To Israeli security officials, the success of Iron Dome is akin to that of the separation barrier between Israel and the West Bank, which they say helped bring an end to an onslaught of suicide bombings in the early 2000s. The Iron Dome system has rendered rockets so ineffective that Hamas and its allies have, in recent days, been attempting more-creative ways of attacking Israel.
To debunk this baseless propaganda, Fallows relied heavily on an article by John Mecklin in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Mecklin pulls no punches, titling his piece “Iron Dome: the public relations weapon”.
Despite the abysmal performance of Iron Dome, the US has sunk over a billion dollars into the program. And despite this horrific waste of money, it appears that our elected officials are only upset about one aspect of the program. Most of the money spent to date on the program has gone to Israeli companies, and so Congress is moving now to make sure US contractors get a piece of the action: https://www.emptywheel.net/2014/07/23/as-debunking-continues-congress-pushes-for-us-contractors-to-profit-off-iron-dome/
2014-07-10 Iron Dome: the public relations weapon The New York Times, noted for its authoritative reporting, wrote that the Israeli Army contended Iron Dome “intercepted about 27 percent of all the rockets fired between Monday night and midday Wednesday.” But the Times did not indicate how many missiles had been targeted, leaving the efficiency of the Iron Dome system in this conflict unclear, even as the newspaper reported that “Israel has said that the system has a success rate of nearly 90 percent in intercepting the missiles it is meant to thwart.” The Times also put a headline over its online story—“A Growing Arsenal of Homegrown Rockets Encounters Israel’s Iron Dome”—that could be read as suggesting Israel’s missile defense was, overall, as effective as its name implies. https://thebulletin.org/2014/07/iron-dome-the-public-relations-weapon/
2012-12-13 Iron Dome: Behind the hoopla, a familiar story of missile-defense hype Since an Israeli-Hamas ceasefire was announced in November, Israel’s Iron Dome system has been hailed as proof that missile defense has emerged from the realm of the theoretical and assumed the status of a real battlefield weapon. It’s also been called a game changer for the Israel-Palestine conflict. The verdict is in, crowed Max Boot, a defense expert at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York: “Missile defense works.” But behind press reports on the supposedly spectacular success of Iron Dome — which the Israeli government claims shot down more than 400 rockets launched toward Israel from Hamas-controlled Gaza during recent hostilities — lies a murkier story. https://thebulletin.org/2012/12/iron-dome-behind-the-hoopla-a-familiar-story-of-missile-defense-hype/#post-heading
.
Categorized Directory: News and Articles about Israel- Palestine Conflict
.
progressiveissuesblog 