For anyone wondering why the iron dome isn't intercepting these - this was a ballistic missile attack and the iron dome was designed to protect highly populated areas from rocket attacks.
Rockets and ballistic missiles are very different. Israel does have other systems to protect against ballistic missiles, but those systems are going to be more limited in coverage than the iron dome is vs rockets.
Overall, the intercept rate vs a rocket is way higher than vs a ballistic missile.
If you're wondering how Israel stopped Iran's April attack, that attack features a number of drones and other easier to intercept missiles, with some estimates suggesting only 15 or so ballistic missiles. That attack was also heavily telegraphed. Israel had U.S. support in defending against it.
This was a less telegraphed attack with likely way more ballistic missiles, although I guess we'll see as more facts come up.
Generally I agree that they would be intercepted at a higher altitude than rockets would, but most interception vehicles for ballistic missiles are hitting them on re-entry, not at super high altitude. That's why MIRVs are so dangerous. It's actually one of the reasons ballistic missiles are so dangerous and scary, you basically only have two chances to intercept them, on their way up, or on their way down, and there's almost no way to detect a launch and fire anything fast enough to hit them on the way up.
You can actually see some of the missiles getting intercepted in the videos.
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u/TrickyTrailMix Oct 01 '24
For anyone wondering why the iron dome isn't intercepting these - this was a ballistic missile attack and the iron dome was designed to protect highly populated areas from rocket attacks.
Rockets and ballistic missiles are very different. Israel does have other systems to protect against ballistic missiles, but those systems are going to be more limited in coverage than the iron dome is vs rockets.
Overall, the intercept rate vs a rocket is way higher than vs a ballistic missile.
If you're wondering how Israel stopped Iran's April attack, that attack features a number of drones and other easier to intercept missiles, with some estimates suggesting only 15 or so ballistic missiles. That attack was also heavily telegraphed. Israel had U.S. support in defending against it.
This was a less telegraphed attack with likely way more ballistic missiles, although I guess we'll see as more facts come up.
Edit: Israel estimating Iran launched 180 ballistic missiles per the WSJ.