ISRAEL’S IRON DOME EXPOSES MISGUIDED US MISSILE DEFENSE

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Human Events:

Israel’s highly successful Iron Dome anti-rocket system that defeated hundreds of Gazan rockets launched at Jewish populated centers over the past week ought to persuade the Obama administration to abandon its dangerous missile defense strategy.

Iron Dome is a mobile all-weather air defense system of radars and interceptors that detect incoming short range rockets and artillery shells (ranges from 2.5 to 44 miles), determine which ones threaten populated areas and/or critical infrastructure, and then launch and guide killer “Tamir” missiles to the threatening projectile. Each interceptor costs $40,000 to $50,000 and is equipped with a proximity-fused warhead.

During Israel’s recent Operation Pillar of Defense the Iron Dome network of five batteries each armed with 60 interceptors arrayed across southern Israel destroyed 84 percent of 421 of the rockets headed for city centers thus saving untold lives, preventing significant damage to Israeli property, and likely prevented Jerusalem from launching a costly ground attack into Gaza to stop the launches. Perhaps just as important the Iron Dome gave the Israeli public a sense of security and an appreciation its government is protecting them from a serious threat.

Further, Israel’s Iron Dome anti-rocket system validates the low end of former President Ronald Reagan’s 1983 Star Wars vision. Then President Reagan described in glowing terms his vision for an impermeable missile shield that nudged the Soviets toward agreements that sharply reduced nuclear arsenals but it took three decades to overcome most of the thorny technological challenges just now being realized with the Iron Dome.