Game Changer: Israel’s Iron Dome Missile Defense System

Palestinian terrorists fired more than 160 rockets at dozens of civilian targets from Friday through Sunday, injuring three Israeli citizens and causing extensive damage. The escalated rocket attacks were in apparent retaliation for an Israeli strike against one of the major commanders of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), which was planning terrorist attacks by infiltrating through the Sinai. The commander, Zuhair al-Qaissi, also planned and carried out attacks through the Sinai last August that killed eight Israelis. Three other terrorists were killed in the strike which precipitated a blizzard of rocket fire from the PRC that struck several towns in southern Israel. The IDF responded with airstrikes against rocket launching sites and terrorist camps.

It could have been worse for the Israelis, except their missile defense system, known as “Iron Dome,” intercepted 90% of the rockets that were targeted. Israeli-designed and built in Israel by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Iron Dome promises to be a “game changer” according to some analysts, once it is fully deployed across the southern border.

Late Sunday, it was reported that Israel had informed Egypt that it would halt air strikes at midnight. Hamas has also agreed to a cease fire, although the PRC has not indicated its agreement to halt the barrage. It hardly matters. Although the barrage was carried out by the Popular Resistance Committees and another terror group, the Palestinian branch of Islamic Jihad, the Israelis believe that Hamas enables the attacks, or at best, refuses to prevent them.

Iron Dome has an unconventional history. It took only three years from design to deployment — a rarity among complex weapons systems. The tracking system was developed by Elta, an Israeli defense company while the computer software was created by the Israeli firm Prest Systems. The interceptor rocket was built by Rafael.

The response to the rocket barrage from the terrorists by the Israeli air force has received the usual blanket coverage in the media, highlighting every Palestinian civilian casualty while downplaying — or not even mentioning — the rain of rockets that is constantly hurled at the Jewish state. Not reported in the media were the 45 separate rocket attacks by the terrorists just since January 1 of this year. That number does not include the dozens of attacks carried out over the last three days.

Israel and the Right know how to take out the enemy without - but how do you take out the MSM enemy within?

I'm guessing most folks don't understand the significance of this system.

It plots the trajectory of every target and then only fires on those headed toward the most important.

Even when overwhelmed, it will take out the biggest and those which are headed toward a prioritized list of potential impact areas...and can match that trajectory against 10s of thousands of potential impact points.

This is FAR, FAR beyond any technology held by any other country in the world, including us.

It’s a good system, but the missiles are way too expensive.

There is simply too much expensive gear in the missile that gets blown up along with the target.

Something like 50,000 each... about a quarter million shekels.

There are other ideas that cost far less.... someday they may be built and deployed.

The Israelis could use a phalanx like system to destroy the missiles far more cheaply but they don’t want the rounds falling into Gaza and causing civil casualties.
It’s possible to use smart bullets that explode if they miss the target, the resulting debris so non-aerodynamic that it does not travel much farther.

A system that launches two missiles at each target may be possible. One contains sophisticated gear like what’s in the Iron Dome missiles and controls a twin that flys alongside. The twin strikes the target, the other returns or deploys a chute. Less costly since the dumb twin needs only a cheap cpu to receive instructions and operate control surfaces.

A system that fires many small bullet like projectiles, each with a cpu. It’s simple and cheap to communicate with each projectile using a rudimentary form of microwave radio. The data link would also let the spinning projectiles know their orientation because there is a 3db difference when the tiny antena embedded into the ceramic base of the shell rotates out of polarization with the rf ground signal. This knowledge lets the projectile know when to detonate small internal charges that vent through tiny ports and thus provide guidance. The projectiles would contain a single chip incorporating the rf circuitry and MCU, a capacitor and a few other cheap components. The brains for guidance would be at the ground station. Every time one projectile misses the others are sent data to correct their course toward the target. If they pass the target they are sent a destruct code. The projectiles are powered not by a battery but by a capacitor that is charged in the launcher just prior to firing, data is also loaded to the MCU just prior to firing. The data is held in ram in the MCU so if a projectile is lost it contains no data.

The guidance by detonation of small internal charges that vent through tiny ports is a pretty strange way to control a projectile...especially one that is spinning very fast. It can be done because the guidance computer at the ground station knows the exact orientation of the projectile as it spins and its exact location. It builds up a record of orientation, speed and direction and extrapolates from this data for any point in the projectiles flight. It guides the projectile with tiny nudges the same way fly-by-wire can keep a non-aerodynamic plane stable in flight (like the Wobblin Goblin stealth fighter)

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