The Iranian drones had little to counter Israel's fighter jets - videos on the Internet show this. You can also see a new version of the “Iron Dome” – but how does it actually work.
Tel Aviv - The rockets rose, headed for Israel - and in most cases never even arrived. At least that's what the Israeli Army (IDF) reported just a few hours after Iran's attack on Saturday night (April 13) on Sunday night. The Israelis said that around 99 percent of the more than 300 drones, rockets and cruise missiles that the mullahs' regime is said to have fired were intercepted by Israel and its allies.
“We intercepted, we defended, together we will win,” wrote Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on several videos - they show the premature and, above all, explosive end of the enemy projectiles.
Israeli army posts footage of fighter jets shooting down Iranian drones
“This is what an interception rate of 99 percent looks like,” the army captioned a nearly 50-second clip with “operational footage from the air defense system that protects Israeli airspace” on its X account on Sunday afternoon. The video impressively illustrates how Israeli fighter jets took down one drone after another from the sky on Saturday evening. Once in the crosshairs, it only takes a few moments in the shot before the drones are shot down and explode in a large fireball. The same fate befell a cruise missile, the launch of which is shown at the end of the video.
New system in Israel: “C-Dome” intercepts drones from Yemen over the Red Sea from a ship
Over the weekend, the Israelis not only targeted enemy missiles from the air and ground, but also apparently operated at sea. This is said to be shown by another recording that the IDF uploaded late on Sunday evening at 10:37 p.m. In the short clip, users see a drone being shot down using the “C-Dome” defense system, as the Israeli army writes.
A Sa'ar-6 corvette successfully intercepted a drone that was approaching Israeli territory from the southeast on Sunday evening. This is the “second operational interception of the defense system in a week.” According to Israeli sources, the drone is said to have landed near the city of Eilat, Israel's only access to the Red Sea. Israel blamed the Houthi militia in Yemen for the attack. Since the beginning of the war in Israel, they have increasingly been attacking merchant ships in the Red Sea.
“C-Dome”: Rockets are fired from ships built in Germany
In fact, the Israeli army only used the new system against an enemy projectile for the first time last Monday (April 8). The army also posted about this on X. The “C-Dome” is the naval version of the Israeli defense system “Iron Dome”. Israel has been working on the system since 2014, which, unlike the ground-based “Iron Dome,” operates from ships.
As
Stern
reported after the operation on Monday (April 8), the “C-Dome” system is integrated into the ship’s command structure and uses its radar. The system was tested on board the Sa'ar 6-class corvette in June 2022 - operational readiness was announced five months later. According to the report, the ships were built in Germany. With a length of 90 meters, they were among the larger corvettes and protected gas platforms off the coast of Israel as well as shipping routes.
Israel's anti-aircraft shield: Iron Dome, David's Sling and Arrow 3
While Israel is now arming itself against sea fire with the “C-Dome”, the ground-based air defense systems have been in use for a long time. These are commonly summarized under the term “Iron Dome”, even if this name actually only refers to part of the missile defense system, as the
Tagesspiegel
highlighted on Sunday (April 14th).
The missile shield consists of three components. The first, the actual “Iron Dome”, is a mobile interceptor for mortar shells and short-range rockets – for example from Hamas. According to the report, Israel uses “David's Sling” to get medium-range missiles with a range between 70 and 300 kilometers out of the sky. This system is mainly used in Hezbollah attacks in Lebanon.
The Israelis intercepted the Iranian rockets and cruise missiles on Saturday using the “Arrow 3” system. This was designed for medium-range missiles with a longer range; the first “Arrow” versions were developed in the 1980s. “Arrow 3” has been in use since the mid-2010s at the latest and is based on precise interaction between defense missiles, control systems and radar systems.
Germany wants a missile shield and has ordered the “Arrow 3” system from Israel
The radar system steers the rocket to its target using energy reflection, and the control center transmits possible course corrections and control signals directly to the rocket. The rocket carries a so-called warhead on a collision course, a “kill vehicle”, which is intended to destroy the enemy warhead using the energy of the impact. The mobile systems can be set up at various locations throughout the country and are designed to function at altitudes of up to 100 kilometers. On Saturday, the “Arrow” missiles fired the projectiles from Iran even outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
After the Russian attack on Ukraine, voices became louder in Germany that the Federal Republic needed an air defense shield. Just a few weeks after the start of the war in Ukraine, the federal government decided to purchase the “Arrow 3” system, and at the end of 2023 the contracts for a sum of more than 3 billion euros were signed.
Accordingly, the Bundeswehr receives launchers, ammunition and radar systems from Israel. The Bundeswehr wants to put the radar systems into operation by 2025. Full protection through the “Arrow 3” system should be guaranteed from 2030. According to the Bundeswehr, the first location is the Holzdorf air base on the border of Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg. Two more locations are to follow.
(flon)