The U.S. Army Is Activating the Iron Dome, Its New Rocket-Killing Weapon

The U.S. Army has announced the activation of two new air defense batteries that use the Iron Dome interceptor system. The batteries, based at Fort Bliss in Texas, will help protect systems such as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-ballistic missile system from attack. Iron Dome will likely deploy to South Korea, where it would protect THAAD forces there from North Korean rocket attack.

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In 2000, the Israeli military started seeing a new, asymmetric threat from regional terrorist groups. Short-ranged rockets, each carrying a small high explosive warhead, were being smuggled to groups like Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Fired from the Gaza Strip, these rockets are inaccurate and poorly aimed. They're also difficult to detect before launch and are fired in large numbers, becoming an effective terror weapon.

In response, the U.S. government paid Israeli defense contractors Rafael and Israeli Aerospace Industries to come up with an anti-rocket air defense system.

The result was Iron Dome. Each battery consists of three to four stationary launchers with a combined 20 Tamir missiles and a battlefield radar system. According to Raytheon, which is partnering with Rafael to build Iron Dome in the U.S., each battery can protect an area of 60 square miles.

Although the system has been criticized as a losing proposition economically—each Tamir missile costs $20,000, and the average cost of a single unguided rocket is probably in the low hundreds—the system is reportedly 90 percent effective, and has brought peace of mind to communities previously under low-grade siege.

https://news.yahoo.com/army-activating-iron-dome-rocket-133000202.html