03/11/2012 17:48
Israel will deploy a fourth battery of the Iron Dome rocket-defense system in the coming weeks, IAF Colonel Tzvika Haimovitch said on Sunday. Speaking to reporters at the location of an Iron Dome battery which is protecting the city of Ashdod, Haimovitch, who served as the commander of the IAF unit responsible for the Iron Dome, said that the system was demonstrating impressive results and "was being stretched to the max."
On Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited the Iron Dome battery protecting Ashdod, and was briefed on the performance of the system. The IDF is hoping to secure funding from the government to enable the continued production and delivery of additional Iron Dome batteries and interceptors.
Since the beginning of the violence between Israel and Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, the three Iron Dome batteries deployed in the South ve successfully intercepted 39 rockets, including 11 as of 5 p.m. on Sunday.
The battery protecting Ashdod has successfully intercepted nearly all of the rockets that were fired into the city.
Since Friday afternoon, when Israel assassinated the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza, 93 rockets have landed inside Israel, and over 24 targets have been bombed by the IAF throughout the Gaza Strip.
"The interception rate has been high, but there is no such thing as a hermetic defense, and only a combination of Iron Dome with other defensive measures is what will provide the utmost protection for the public," Haimovitch said. "The more batteries we deploy, the better the protection we will be able to provide."
The Iron Dome's interception success rate this year is over 90 percent, up from 75% in 2011.
The Iron Dome is designed to defend against rockets at a range of 4-70 kilometers. Each battery consists of a multi-mission radar manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries and three launchers, each equipped with 20 interceptors called Tamirs.
The radar enables Iron Dome operators to predict the impact site of the enemy rocket and decide not to intercept it if it is slated to hit an open area. Each interceptor costs around $50,000 and usually two are fired at rockets slated for interception.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited the Iron Dome battery protecting Ashdod, and was briefed on the performance of the system. The IDF is hoping to secure funding from the government to enable the continued production and delivery of additional Iron Dome batteries and interceptors.
Since the beginning of the violence between Israel and Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, the three Iron Dome batteries deployed in the South ve successfully intercepted 39 rockets, including 11 as of 5 p.m. on Sunday.
The battery protecting Ashdod has successfully intercepted nearly all of the rockets that were fired into the city.
Since Friday afternoon, when Israel assassinated the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza, 93 rockets have landed inside Israel, and over 24 targets have been bombed by the IAF throughout the Gaza Strip.
"The interception rate has been high, but there is no such thing as a hermetic defense, and only a combination of Iron Dome with other defensive measures is what will provide the utmost protection for the public," Haimovitch said. "The more batteries we deploy, the better the protection we will be able to provide."
The Iron Dome's interception success rate this year is over 90 percent, up from 75% in 2011.
The Iron Dome is designed to defend against rockets at a range of 4-70 kilometers. Each battery consists of a multi-mission radar manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries and three launchers, each equipped with 20 interceptors called Tamirs.
The radar enables Iron Dome operators to predict the impact site of the enemy rocket and decide not to intercept it if it is slated to hit an open area. Each interceptor costs around $50,000 and usually two are fired at rockets slated for interception.
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