r/PublicFreakout Oct 01 '24

🌎 World Events Missile impacts in Israel

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793

u/austinyo6 Oct 01 '24

Did the iron dome run out of US interceptor rockets?

558

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.

7

u/cRAY_Bones Oct 01 '24

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

13

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.