The arrival of US high-altitude defense batteries – along with dozens of American troops – will help improve Israel’s air defense system, which, according to an Israeli defense expert, has been strained by repeated attacks from Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah.
“Israel’s air defense needs any help, especially if the war escalates and turns into a war of attrition between Israel and Iran,” said Ehud Eilam, who served in the Israeli military and is a longtime Israeli security researcher. defense issues and policies.
Israel’s current layered defense system is designed to intercept incoming missiles and other projectiles at various altitudes and, for the most part, protect cities and military installations that have come under attack from Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthi militia over the past year. Yemen.
But as Israel prepares to launch a retaliatory strike against Iran – for its recent attack of more than 180 ballistic missiles – there are concerns that Israel will have to prepare for significant additional attacks from the country, whichhas the largest stockpile of missilesin the Middle East
Israel, with US assistance, intercepted most of the missiles in Iran’s attack on October 1. However, Eilam told CBC News, not all of them were shot down, it is likely that Israel was rationing its supply of interceptors.
“Israel has to calculate carefully how many missiles it can use,” Eilam said from Boston, where he is based.
“There’s definitely a shortage of missiles in this country.”
Israel’s air defense network consists of three distinct systems: Iron Dome which fires short-range projectiles, including rockets launched from Gaza; David’s Sling, which fires medium-range rockets, like those fired from Lebanon; and the Arrow system that has intercepted long-range ballistic missiles from Iran.
The US-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system will also be operational soon.
The system can even intercept missiles flying above the Earth’s atmosphere. The battery, which can be repositioned when installed on a military vehicle, costs money about $1 billionUS and will be operated by 100 US troops.
Although the deployment of the missiles is seen as a significant step by Washington, Eilam believes Israel and the US cannot continue producing missiles as quickly as necessary.
Israel defends against attacks on various fronts, which requires enormous costs.
The country is increasing production of ammunition and other weapons to arm its soldiers who have been fighting in Gaza since last year, and in Lebanon since early October.
In an article in the UK-based Financial Times, the chief executive of Israel Aerospace Industries, which produces the missiles used for the Arrow system, said its production facilities were working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to try to meet demand.
Eilam said each Arrow missile costs about $3 million US.
Although ballistic missiles pose the greatest threat to society and infrastructure, drones have proven to be a challenge for Israel to defend against, as they are smaller, slower and fly closer to the ground. Production is also relatively cheap, so it can be used en masse.
Four Israeli soldiers were killed and dozens more injured on Sunday after a drone crashed into the roof of a dining hall at a military base near the town of Binyamina-Giv’at Ada in central Israel.
“There was no alarm, I didn’t hear an explosion,” said local resident Noam Weintraub, 20.
“We have a fantastic air defense system… but sometimes mistakes happen and of course, as we progress, the enemy gets better with their drones.”
The Israeli military said it was investigating how the drone was able to evade air defense systems.
Eilam said missile interceptors are sometimes ineffective against drones.
While a single drone will not cause as much damage as a ballistic missile, they can still be deadly, and Iran has a large stockpile of drones, he said.
His drones have also been used by Russia – deployed during the war in Ukraine against cities and infrastructure.
Drones “are like terror weapons because they can appear out of nowhere and attack in the middle of the city,” said Eilam.
On Monday, several Israeli companies participated in trials where they tested prototypes for intercepting drones. The field tests took place in southern Israel, and involved major defense contractors and start-up companies. The Israeli government said it would select several technologies for accelerated testing and production.
