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Israel's "Iron Dome" anti-missile defense system in action Rocket (May 2021): The sound everyone was waiting for: "boom-boom-boom", the muffled sound of rockets being fired
Photo: Amir Cohen / REUTERS
Alone this confusion in articles in German media: In the last few days, "Iron Dome" and "Arrow 3" have simply been lumped together!
As if these two missile defense systems were one and the same.
What a happy country this Germany was that didn't have to deal with such issues for decades and today - still - has no idea what it's talking about.
In Israel really everyone knows these two systems.
And also »David's Sling«, the »sling of David«.
Together they are the triple safety net that the Israeli army has stretched across the country's airspace.
Again in detail:
The
"Arrow 3"
shoots medium and long-range missiles with a range of 200 to 2000 kilometers.
So it is exactly the system that the Federal Republic needs to defend against possible nuclear missiles from Russia and now probably wants to buy in Israel.
"David's Sling"
is used against short- and medium-range missiles that have a range of about 40 to 300 kilometers.
And then there is the world's most famous system:
"Iron Dome"
which has been used continuously in Israel's past wars.
It fires missiles with a range of 4 to 70 kilometers with over 90 percent certainty, for example missiles fired from Gaza.
more on the subject
Missiles from Russia: This is how the »Arrow 3« missile defense system from Israel is supposed to protect GermanyBy Marco Evers
»Iron Dome« has a fascinating technology.
During the 2014 Gaza war, I stood next to a mobile system unit consisting of a battery with up to four launch options and 20 rockets each.
It can be brought quickly and easily from one location to the next and covers a radius of more than 150 kilometers.
As soon as a rocket is fired in Gaza, the system automatically calculates its trajectory in a fraction of a second.
If it will hit uninhabited territory, then nothing will happen.
Otherwise, an “Iron Dome” rocket, costing almost 50,000 euros, shoots out of the battery with a sharp hissing noise into the sky, turns, circles back and forth, makes loops until it hits the rocket that it had in its sights the whole time.
A dull "thump" follows
a small cluster of clouds can be seen appearing in the sky.
The rocket fired from Gaza has been rendered harmless.
Such an operation takes only a few seconds.
"Iron Dome" last proved its worth in May 2021, when the Islamist Hamas even shelled Tel Aviv night after night during the last war.
Not much happened.
A few houses were damaged and a few people were injured.
The »Iron Dome« works.
And is at the same time a »killer« for Israeli PR.
While you get horrific images of massive destruction from Gaza in every war, on the Israeli side there is little damage and few deaths, thanks to the missile defense system.
"Iron Dome" makes the Islamist attacks appear harmless on television, which of course they are not.
With every war, their missiles have gotten bigger, better, and deadlier.
In addition to the anti-missiles, Israelis have another protective device: bunkers.
In every city, in every town, there are numerous public safety spaces.
In older houses, underground garages or stairwells serve as protective devices, they are provided with appropriately reinforced concrete.
For many years, however, new houses with bunker rooms have been built in Israel, and this has long been mandatory by law.
Every modern apartment has what is known as a "mamad," a room clad in extra-strong concrete that has an iron door that hermetically seals the room and can also protect the occupants from biological or chemical attack.
What reads like a ghastly nightmare is actually a guarantee that most people in Israel can react relatively calmly to rocket attacks.
I remember well how the rocket alarm went off in Tel Aviv just before midnight on a war night.
I was just sitting in a restaurant.
The sirens wailed and everyone went across the street to the house across the street where there was a public bunker.
There we stood, chatted, laughed, maybe a little too much.
Because a little nervousness was spreading, of course, and jokes were made to cover up the truly unusual situation.
Finally came the sound everyone was waiting for: "boom-boom-boom".
The muffled sound of missiles being fired.
After that: silence.
The danger was over with that.
Everyone went back over to the restaurant and picked up where they left off a few minutes ago.
Until the next alarm.
Germany, on the other hand, has almost no protective devices in the event of an attack and would now have to find permanent solutions quickly.
The purchase of anti-missile missiles alone will not suffice for a feared military aggression by Russia.
The "Arrow 3", in Hebrew: "Khetz 3", is a missile that can reach its launch target over hundreds of kilometers.
It flies at hypersonic speeds and can launch missiles even in the stratosphere, which is particularly important for nuclear missiles, but also for biological or chemical warheads.
The explosions then triggered would not reach the earth.
But the "Arrow" is expensive, it costs more than two million euros per piece.
In order to protect a country like the Federal Republic, the federal government will have to dig deep into their pockets.
For Israel's small size is both an advantage and a disadvantage.
On the one hand, the danger of destroying the entire country with just a few missiles is extremely high, on the other hand, such a small territory can be protected much better with such a defense system than a country the size of Germany.
more on the subject
"Iron Dome": How does the Israeli missile defense system work?By Hilmar Schmundt
In the previous Gaza war, the Islamists in Gaza tried to outwit the defense systems by firing dozens, sometimes hundreds of rockets in rapid succession, in the hope that some might reach their targets after all.
It didn't work, the defense worked for the most part.
But for Israel this protection of the population is an extremely expensive affair.
While the construction of a Qassam rocket hardly requires large sums of money from Islamic Jihad or Hamas, since the construction is very functional and at the same time extremely inexpensive, their defense quickly runs into hundreds of millions.
Only recently did the United States provide the Israelis with around one billion dollars to replenish their "Iron Dome" depots.
While the Germans now want to buy the "Arrow 3", the Israelis are already working with the USA on the next model, the "Arrow 4".
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's announcement in February was probably even more decisive for the country's future security.
Israel wants to introduce a completely new type of laser defense system within a year.
In the meantime, the government has already backtracked somewhat, and it will probably take more than a year before the new laser systems are ready for use.
But they have already been tested.
And they cost a fraction of what Israel's current system requires.
That would of course also be a solution for Germany and all of Europe in the future.
A few years ago, early in the morning of the war, I saw how secure Israel's missile defense system is.
Out of nowhere, two rockets from Gaza exploded less than 200 meters from my balcony.
There had been no alarm, no Iron Dome missiles had gone up.
What for?
The system had calculated that they would fall into the sea.
It was like that in the end.
Everything was good.
Only my own blood pressure had suddenly skyrocketed.
The blast had been extremely close and unbearably loud.
How glad was I that the Iron Dome's computers correctly calculated the trajectory of the M75 rockets from Gaza.
