This is what Yair Ramati, head of the Wall Directorate in the Ministry of Defense, which is responsible for missile defense systems, including the Iron Dome, said at the annual conference of the graduates of the National Security College. According to him, the debates that existed in the XNUMXs regarding the need for defense systems in general and defense against missiles in particular, which were contrary to the concept that one should focus on attack capabilities, are no longer relevant
"During Operation Pillar of Cloud, the Palestinians launched barrages of 14-15 missiles at the same time, flat trajectories, and we were able to meet all the challenges," said Yair Ramati, head of the Wall Directorate in the Ministry of Defense, which is responsible for missile defense systems, including Iron Dome, at the annual conference of the college's graduates for national security. who commented that the Iron Dome system, despite being a tactical system, was able to assist in deciding the strategic dimension.
"The threat to us is diverse, from the Qassams, through standard rockets, to long-range rockets such as the Pajer 5 and the 8-inch rocket that we saw in the first. We have not yet experienced the heavy rockets of half a ton of warheads. Some of the threats are from air-breathing aircraft, including cruise missiles that the Iranians They were announced recently. The construction of the systems is taking place at a rapid pace."
"In the management of missile defense projects, if you succeeded in 5 years, it is a phenomenal achievement - to deliver what they asked for on time in terms of performance. It has never happened before - ten years. We talked about what happened from 2002 until today. Every time we fall asleep we receive a signal, like Hamlet traveling above Israel.
"The threat is getting worse, it also hurts the perception of the management. We are in an arms race when the other side is perfecting the ability to attack and we are perfecting the ability to defend. The Iron Dome system, which was initially developed as a technological cornerstone and in record time from making the decision - December 2007 to the first interception, in 2011 passed After all, 4 years. During this time, the threat has changed, it is no longer rockets with a range of 4-40 kilometers, but missiles that arrive To Tel Aviv - a distance of 70 kilometers from the Strip.
Ramati reminded everyone of the dilemmas that existed in the XNUMXs when it comes to missile defense: Is it even possible to intercept a ballistic missile with a small range using a ground defense system? Does the Scud really pose a significant threat to Israel and what about the Grad? Is it right to invest in defense at the expense of attack - challenging the traditional concept of security? Will the US be willing to help Israel, over time, in financing missile defense? What is the degree of protection that can be provided to the rear and what is right to provide.
"The first two batteries were Israeli-financed, batteries 3-4 were American-funded for 204 million dollars. During Operation Cloud, batteries 5 and 6 were under construction, and we managed to bring battery 5 to Tel Aviv in record time, when the operators had to deal with software Unstable in a new language for them, they managed to do it in a day and a half."
"In the technological dimension, the debate was decided, the economic dimension was also decided thanks to the American assistance. In terms of projects, the Wall Administration went from one project - the Arrow project, to four projects at the same time: Iron Dome, Magic Wand, Arrow 2 (and 3 in development) as well as the Bnei Reshef project. We strive, with the assistance The intelligence, to always be one step ahead of the threatening factors whether it is Gaza, Lebanon, Syria or even Iran. If we add the information from the American warning stations, our situation today in terms of the ability to intercept missiles is much better.
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To Noam - I was just responding to the quote: "The debates that existed in the nineties regarding the need for defense systems in general and defense against missiles in particular, which were contrary to the concept that one should focus on attack capabilities, are no longer relevant.."
This is one of the more over-enthusiastic sentences I've read recently.
@I am,
It is not that with the development of the Arrow, Israel's nuclear arsenals (according to foreign publications) were dismantled, there is no obstacle to combining capabilities.
Regarding the percentage of success, note that it is very uneconomical to intercept a traffic sign containing 2 kg of munitions with 100% success, but you can be sure that if Iran makes the mistake and launches an anti-aircraft missile at Israel, they will not be satisfied with one arrow missile, and probably 2-3 will be launched at the same time.
@June,
These are turbocharger based weapon systems.
I actually came across this article after previous comments. If you have a specific fix please
Isn't it time to proofread the articles before uploading them to the website?
Avi Blizovsky, with all due respect to your desire for as many articles as possible, almost all of the ones you sign are infected with terrible typographical and grammatical errors.
It conveys a despicable lack of seriousness.
And what is there to say?
And my Lord said on that day, if there is no hummus, we will take out tahini from the closet.
I did not understand the phrase - air-breathing aircraft
Israel as a democratic country has a moral problem to use the full power of the offensive weapon and this fact is exploited by the enemies so that a kikioni organization like Hamas has terrorized half of the country's population
The Iranians know that Israel will attack military and strategic installations but not population concentrations in the big cities
Whereas they will not hesitate to destroy Gush Dan on its inhabitants
A clear and visible message should be sent to them that ballistic missiles are aimed at any time to be launched on Tehran and the other major cities and the Iranian people will be erased from the history books
In addition - the only thing that will prevent Iran from attacking Israel is the ambiguity regarding our nuclear capability.
If the Iranians suspect that we have no nuclear capability and we only have the Arrow missiles and if they really want to destroy us - they would send a volley of several nuclear missiles and end our story.
If the Iron Dome after hundreds of hours of operational experience still misses here and there by a considerable percentage (20%), I don't want to think how many "holes" have not yet been discovered in the Arrow system, and there is no doubt that the day it will be tested will be on Judgment Day, and it will be too late for all of us To fix bugs...
If during the Cold War the USA had only invested in a defense system, it is possible that Russia would have fired a barrage of dozens or hundreds of nuclear missiles at it long ago and finished with it.
The knowledge that there would be mutual annihilation is the only thing that prevented an attack (by both sides).
The ability to defend does not replace the ability to deter (a potential attack) - and whoever thinks otherwise - is living in a movie, wrong and misleading.
Ran, the truth is that it sounds strange to me too, I looked for information about it on the Internet yesterday and did not find a shred of information.
What is the "Bnei Reshef Project"?
Quote from the end of the article:
"In the technological dimension, the debate was decided, the economic dimension was also decided thanks to the American aid. In terms of projects, the wall administration went from one project - the Arrow project, to four projects at the same time: Iron Dome, Magic Wand, Arrow 2 (and 3 in development) as well as the Bnei Reshef project."
In the article
Please correct the errors in class "up" = "if" (X2)