r/PublicFreakout Oct 01 '24

🌎 World Events Missile impacts in Israel

22.0k Upvotes

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791

u/austinyo6 Oct 01 '24

Did the iron dome run out of US interceptor rockets?

561

u/theekumquat Oct 01 '24

A lot of misinformation in this thread (as usual for this subreddit). The iron dome does not intercept ballistic missiles. Israel has Arrow, David's Sling, and Patriot missile systems for ballistic missile interceptions. In general, ballistic missiles are much harder to intercept.

127

u/Bbrhuft Oct 01 '24

Interception also depends on the ELM-2040 Over the Horizon Radar, which bounces 6 to 30 MHz radar (high Frequency / HF) off the ionosphere to detect and track missiles over the horizon. HF is affected by solar activity, there was a solar flare and high solar activity today, and a radio blackout. So I am wondering if solar activity degraded the perfomance of Israel's the OTR.

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/goes-x-ray-flux

57

u/mr_potatoface Oct 01 '24

1000 IQ play by Iran if they were timing the attack in coordination with the Sun. High solar flare activity has been noted for weeks at this point since we're in a very active period of the cycle. They may have just been waiting for the right location/intensity. Sounds like the Sun is a co-conspirator in this attack. Does the Sun have oil? Maybe the Sun needs some freedom.

4

u/United_Internal_2683 Oct 01 '24

Zoroastrians were right, holy shit.

1

u/Quad-Banned120 Oct 02 '24

The sun is confirmed antisemitic

/s just in case

3

u/RentPsychological799 Oct 01 '24

I also heard if the missiles land in areas that are not populated or will not cause casualties they will not try to intercept

36

u/Hi-archy Oct 01 '24

Thank you human with brain.

7

u/cRAY_Bones Oct 01 '24

What does the iron dome intercept? Are there missiles that aren’t ballistic?

12

u/theekumquat Oct 01 '24

The word "ballistic" means different things in the colloquial or physics sense than it does in the military sense. For missiles, it usually refers to a projectile that launches into the Earth's atmosphere and comes down at a very steep descent angle and high speed, making interception difficult. Iron Dome is meant to intercept small, simple rockets and slow-flying drones with easily calculable trajectories that are easier to intercept.

6

u/jj4leafclova Oct 01 '24

Yes there are. Cruise missiles are a pretty well known type. They do not leave the atmosphere and usually “cruise” relatively low. The Iron Dome can take them out. The Iron Dome frequently has been shown on videos taking out the unguided rockets that Hezbollah launches into Israel from time to time.

Israel has other air defenses that can take out ballistic missiles, such as David’s Sling or the Arrow system, depending on the type of ballistic missile.

4

u/itsLOSE-notLOOSE Oct 01 '24

That’s what I’m wondering too.

3

u/orangeyougladiator Oct 02 '24

Iron Dome intercepts dumb rockets and drones, like the shit Hamas and Hexbollah have fired thousands of. They’re non guided fire and forget trash that hit wherever it lands.

Ballistic missiles exit earths atmosphere and re enter at approximately 2000mph, which makes them incredibly difficult to intercept

3

u/FuckAdamMorgan Oct 01 '24

Regardless of context, "David's Sling" is an awesome fucking name

3

u/TuckerMcG Oct 01 '24

Right? Same with Iron Dome. Fuckin S-tier branding

3

u/FUMFVR Oct 01 '24

Iran hit a US base in Iraq with these missiles back in 2020 if anyone can remember that far back. If the US can't intercept them, Israel can't.

-3

u/JupiterJonesJr Oct 01 '24

David's.... Sling...

David's sling. David's sling? Really, Israel? You corny motherfuckers.

0

u/JustHereForTheHuman Oct 01 '24

The iron dome does not intercept ballistic missiles.

-5

u/joeb690 Oct 01 '24

All researched, developed, provided and financed by the American taxpayer?

11

u/theekumquat Oct 01 '24

Arrow is jointly funded and developed by the US and Israel.

David's Sling is jointly funded and developed by the US and Israel.

Israel's military industry does much of the manufacturing and research while the US does most of the funding.

Patriot is an older missile defense system developed by the US.

If you don't want military funding going to missile defense, I'm not sure what'd you rather it be spent on. Offensive weapons perhaps?

1

u/joeb690 Oct 02 '24

They are also receiving enough funding for their offensive weapons so I don’t under that part or you reply but thanks for the info. Jointly funded is I feel a little disingenuous considering how much funding Israel receives from the United States.

380

u/Educational_Cattle96 Oct 01 '24

That area could also be void of any infrastructure or houses, thsu those rockets were given low-priority to be intercepted, thus they were able to get past the Iron Dome defenses; as they were not important enough.

98

u/RunJumpJump Oct 01 '24

Agreed. I'm not a missile defense expert, but I've read today's ballistic missiles are different and faster than those Iran shot back in April. If true, it could also explain why seemingly more of them made it through the iron dome.

71

u/madmaus81 Oct 01 '24

The iron dome obviously isnt designed for ballistic smart missiles. It designed for fire and forget missiles so it can calculate the path and shoot it down when needed.

This is totally different and the ballistic missiles are much faster.

31

u/bartleby999 Oct 01 '24

Israel has multi-level missile defence. Iron Dome is for short-range rockets. David's Sling is what intercepts ballistic missiles.

It only shoots at what it needs to shoot. If the missile isn't going to do any damage (sea or desert), it is left to impact.

4

u/AmoralCarapace Oct 01 '24

-1

u/bartleby999 Oct 01 '24

That's a very small "explosion." That looks like missile debris, not an active warhead detonation.

What goes up, must come down. Everything that is intercepted will reign down debris. That's a hell out a lot less damage than would have occurred had the missile not be intercepted.

1

u/superxpro12 Oct 01 '24

Sling is medium range. Arrow is the long range interceptor designed to replace the Patriot system.

1

u/thatsabruno Oct 02 '24

I'm confused. In physics "ballistic" means something that is projected but otherwise only affected by gravity (or something like that). What makes ballistic missiles different? (Honest question, and I know I could Google it but would prefer to ask my reddit friends)

7

u/harelzz Oct 01 '24 edited Oct 01 '24

In april iran shot also ballistic missiles but the missiles you are referring to might be either UAV or cruise missile which can be intercepted by the iron dome( the attack now was ONLY ballistic missiles)
The iron dome is not the whole defence system , the ballistic missiles are intercepted by Arrow 3 ,Arrow 2 and maybe david's sling but i think it is not , not sure
Those systems take out the ballistic missiles , in April and now look them out its intresting

2

u/FUMFVR Oct 01 '24

Ballistic missiles follow a ballistic trajectory. Meaning they are shot high in the air and come back down under gravitational pull. The largest and fastest of these- ICBMs- are going roughly 4 miles per second on their downward trajectory. Nothing on earth can intercept something going that fast.

1

u/RunJumpJump Oct 01 '24

Thanks, that's both fascinating and terrifying!

1

u/MarcusZXR Oct 01 '24

I imagine very few people here are experts

2

u/RunJumpJump Oct 01 '24

Ha, true enough. I definitely do not want to be mistaken for someone who pretends to be, though.

2

u/klauseius Oct 01 '24

You are correct, very few casualties for israel

2

u/sxrrycard Oct 01 '24

Source?

1

u/klauseius Oct 01 '24

my countries news i dont know how to link that

1

u/armstad2 Oct 02 '24

Not trying to be funny but you don't know how to copy and paste a link on reddit?

1

u/klauseius Oct 02 '24

Oh no its because im watching it on cable not via internet

1

u/Fiasco1081 Oct 01 '24

Many other threads say it's an airbase. Alot of open space in airbases

1

u/thefatheadedone Oct 01 '24

Iron dome doesn't work against ballistics. Arrow does. But not the ID.

1

u/Full-Contest1281 Oct 01 '24

Iran is likely also hitting low-value targets for political reasons.

6

u/xXRazihellXx Oct 01 '24

Last time they didnt intercept, impact were in a vacant area

-1

u/Fiasco1081 Oct 01 '24

Last time was a warning. This was an attempt to inflict damage

49

u/traxxes Oct 01 '24 edited Oct 01 '24

If the area of impact is devoid of civilian or military infrastructure (from the viewpoint of the Israeli state), the Iron Dome radar has already calculated the air munition's end trajectory is not a threat, thus the system didn't find the need to expend a Tamir missile to intercept it.

Each of the 10 batteries across Israel is setup in this same purpose and they will overlap their coverage (60 sq miles/96 sq kms) as required to support the defence of an adjoining AO, hence the versatile operational range (4 to 70kms/2.5 to 43 miles) of a standard Tamir interceptor.

Direct from the joint manufacturer (RTX):

The intelligent Iron Dome system ignores incoming threats it determines will land in uninhabited areas, thereby minimizing unnecessary defensive launches and lowering operation costs.

The Iron Dome can also fire multiple variants of missiles, slow but agile SAMs to those that are much faster time to target wise for the precision guided munitions before they even enter Israeli airspace. The Israeli Arrow/Hetz batteries will deal with Iranian cruise/ballistic missile threats. The Israelis know very well what their enemies possess and have adapted one system to do it all.

The one thing that can distrupt this defence layer however, is overwhelming/saturating the system with a mass air campaign on multiple AOs and ultimately the efficiency of the techs reloading the IDF missile batteries.

You also have to remember as well in the last barrage from Iran, that even Jordan, Iraq and Syria shot some down for their own reasons. Israeli and USAF/RAF jets did multiple intercept sorties deep into Iraq even, so Israel isn't the only country trying to stop the Iranian air barrages when they happen.

5

u/sschueller Oct 01 '24

devoid of civilian or military infrastructure

Of people they care about. The Iron Dome does not protection everyone or every place.

4

u/Alfasi Oct 01 '24

No air defense system does that, sadly

1

u/menasan Oct 01 '24

that really didn't look uninhabited

2

u/InZomnia365 Oct 01 '24

You can't shoot down 200 rockets. You prioritize the ones going to the most important or populated areas.

2

u/Registered-Nurse Oct 01 '24

Iron dome prioritizes which ones to intercept. If the rockets are heading towards a densely populated area, it’ll prioritize that over something that’s going to land in a field somewhere

1

u/Zugzwang522 Oct 01 '24

Iron dome can’t take down ballistic missiles, its rockets are designed for smaller munitions like slower moving rockets, artillery, and mortars

1

u/sionnach_fi Oct 01 '24

Iron dome doesn’t intercept ballistic missiles.

1

u/TrickyTrailMix Oct 01 '24

The iron dome isn't designed to counter ballistic missiles. It was designed to defend against rocket attacks.

-9

u/Anna-Politkovskaya Oct 01 '24

All the missiles used for the iron dome are made and designed in Israel.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Dome

5

u/pavementhead Oct 01 '24

Raytheon builds them in Tuscon.

11

u/Remsster Oct 01 '24

Try reading through that again

2

u/Anna-Politkovskaya Oct 01 '24

https://thedefensepost.com/2024/02/27/us-tamir-missile-factory-arkansas/#:~:text=Raytheon%20and%20Rafael%20joint%20venture,support%20US%20and%20Israeli%20requirements.

The Tamir interceptor co-production plant is being built in Huntsville after an agreement was reached in February of this year. 

The ABMs used for defence against ballistic missile attacks are partially co-produced with the US though.

I wouldn't categorise them as "US missiles" though, as I wouldn't categorise a BMW built in the US as an "American car".

0

u/doman991 Oct 01 '24

Iron dome cant intercept ballistic missiles. It’s struggling even with normal (not primitive)missiles.

-14

u/mikere Oct 01 '24

the iron dome only intercepts homemade low tech rockets, not actual ballistic missiles iran is sending over

9

u/[deleted] Oct 01 '24

[deleted]

2

u/BorikGor Oct 01 '24

Actually, they're not wrong..
Iron dome is the name of a system that intercepts small G2G rockets.
The system that intercepts ballistic missiles is called Arrow 2, Arrow 3, or the good old Patriot..

-1

u/BigDickKnucle Oct 01 '24

It was a paper tiger all along.

-2

u/jefe008 Oct 01 '24

And not to be an ass, but Israel calls their system “David’s Sling.” From my understanding, Iron Dome is ours

3

u/Freakin_A Oct 01 '24

Iron Dome is Israel's intercept system for rockets. David's Sling is their intercept system for ballistic missiles, like these ones fired by Iran.

2

u/jefe008 Oct 02 '24

Cool! Thanks. I heard it wrong then.