Iron Dome:
The US President signed an Executive Order to build an Iron Dome-style missile defence system to shield the United States against the “threat of attack by ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles, and other advanced aerial attacks.”
- It is Israel’s air missile defense system that can defend against short-range rockets, intercepting them in the air above the state.
- It is a short-range mobile air defense system developed for Israel by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries, with additional support from Raytheon.
- First deployed in 2011, it constitutes the innermost layer of the tiered Israeli air defense network.
- It has all-weather capabilities and is able to function night or day and in all conditions, including fog, rain, dust storms, and low clouds.
- It is able to launch a variety of interceptor missiles.
- It is designed to shoot down missiles with a range of about 40 miles or less.
- It also has the ability to be moved, either onto ships or across land, to better suit defense needs.
- It must be reloaded to continuously intercept incoming missiles.
- The Iron Dome operates through three main components:
- a radar that detects incoming rockets,
a command-and-control system that determines the threat level,
an interceptor that seeks to destroy the incoming rocket before it strikes.
