https://sputnikglobe.com/20231009/military-expert-weigh-in-on-israels-iron-dome-vulnerability-1114038838.html
Military Expert Weighs in on Israel’s Iron Dome Vulnerability
Military Expert Weighs in on Israel’s Iron Dome Vulnerability
Sputnik International
''HAMAS fighters made precise calculations about the capacity of Israel's air defense forces and worked out the number of rockets capable of 'overloading' the Iron Dome,'' military expert Alexei Leonkov said.
2023-10-09T13:17+0000
2023-10-09T13:17+0000
2023-12-05T09:22+0000
military
israel
hamas
iron dome
middle east
palestine-israel conflict
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On Saturday morning, Israel was hit by an unprecedented rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported over 3,000 rockets launched, some of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome system. However, a number of rockets launched by Hamas penetrated the air defenses and struck Israeli cities. Following the massive airstrikes, several Hamas military units infiltrated the southern border areas."It was a 'classic' case: if one seeks to suppress rival air defenses, an air raid has to be calculated in a way where the number of airstrikes exceeds existing air defense capabilities. Roughly speaking, if Israel has 200 interceptors, we are talking about 400 required missiles," Leonkov told Spuntik."In terms of this particular conflict, we can deduce that Hamas thoroughly prepared for the ongoing strikes and was aware of the exact Israeli air defense capabilities. This allowed them to figure out the number of missiles it would take to overload the Iron Dome," he added.According to the expert, there are two reasons to why the Iron Dome was breached. The first is the excessive use of Israeli defense missile due to the sheer scale of the attack. "Keep in mind that no air defense system is completely error-free. This has to do with its design and its structural reserves. If Israel had expected 5,000 missiles launched all at once, Israeli intelligence would have accumulated far more Iron Dome launchers and surface-to-air missile (SSM) for their rapid recharge,” said the expert.The second reason is the overloading of the targeting system. "Israel claims that the Iron Dome is a multichannel system, capable of tracking about 200 targets and shooting down over a hundred. The current hostilities have shown that even a mass launch of unguided Qassam missiles leads to the Iron Dome failing to track and capture all the targets," Leonkov added.The expert pointed out that this is not the first mass shelling of Israel. "2020 saw an escalation with hundreds of rockets fired at Israel. The Iron Dome managed to neutralize most of them, but a few ended up falling on Israeli territory. This gave Hamas insight into Israel’s air defense capabilities," Leonkov explained.Despite shortfalls, ''the Iron Dome proved to be highly efficient in fulfilling its primary task of repelling dozens of missiles from Gaza at a time,'' the pundit added.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20231009/israel-reportedly-asks-us-to-replenish-iron-dome-interceptors-as-netanyahu-warns-of-long-war-1114026930.html
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israel-hamas crisis, iron dome, iron dome failure, iron dome hamas
israel-hamas crisis, iron dome, iron dome failure, iron dome hamas
Military Expert Weighs in on Israel’s Iron Dome Vulnerability
13:17 GMT 09.10.2023 (Updated: 09:22 GMT 05.12.2023) Hamas fighters made precise calculations about the capacity of Israel's air defense forces and worked out the number of rockets capable of 'overloading' the Iron Dome,' military expert Alexei Leonkov said.
On Saturday morning, Israel was hit by an unprecedented rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported over 3,000 rockets launched, some of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome system. However, a number of rockets launched by Hamas penetrated the air defenses and struck Israeli cities. Following the massive airstrikes, several Hamas military units infiltrated the southern border areas.
"It was a 'classic' case: if one seeks to suppress rival air defenses, an air raid has to be calculated in a way where the number of airstrikes exceeds existing air defense capabilities. Roughly speaking, if Israel has 200 interceptors, we are talking about 400 required missiles," Leonkov told Spuntik.
"In terms of this particular conflict, we can deduce that
Hamas thoroughly prepared for the ongoing strikes and was aware of the exact Israeli air defense capabilities. This allowed them to figure out the number of missiles it would take to overload the Iron Dome," he added.
According to the expert, there are two reasons to why the Iron Dome was breached. The first is the excessive use of Israeli defense missile due to the sheer scale of the attack. "Keep in mind that no air defense system is completely error-free. This has to do with its design and its structural reserves. If Israel had expected 5,000 missiles launched all at once, Israeli intelligence would have accumulated far more Iron Dome launchers and surface-to-air missile (SSM) for their rapid recharge,” said the expert.
9 October 2023, 06:36 GMT
The second reason is the overloading of the targeting system. "Israel claims that the Iron Dome is a multichannel system, capable of tracking about 200 targets and shooting down over a hundred. The current hostilities have shown that even a mass launch of unguided Qassam missiles leads to the
Iron Dome failing to track and capture all the targets," Leonkov added.
The expert pointed out that this is not the first mass shelling of Israel. "2020 saw an escalation with hundreds of rockets fired at Israel. The Iron Dome managed to neutralize most of them, but a few ended up falling on Israeli territory. This gave Hamas insight into Israel’s air defense capabilities," Leonkov explained.
Despite shortfalls, ''the Iron Dome proved to be highly efficient in fulfilling its primary task of repelling dozens of missiles from Gaza at a time,'' the pundit added.
