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Vancouver Sun
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Vancouver Sun
Why are Iranian missiles hitting Israel? What to know about Iron Dome and other defence systems
It's not just the so-called Iron Dome that's protecting Israel from hundreds of Iranian missiles. The term Iron Dome has become 'a stand-in for Israeli missile defence more broadly; so, it's kind of like how we use Kleenex to describe every type of facial tissue,' said Wes Rumbaugh, a fellow in the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Defence systems known as David's Sling and The Arrow are also both helping Israel to intercept and destroy long-range missiles fired from Iran. But even Israel's vaunted missile defence system can't stop everything. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The Iranian missile attacks began June 13 after Israel launched what it called a pre-emptive strike to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Operation Rising Lion targeted Iranian nuclear sites and military installations, killing hundreds, including several of the country's top military leaders. 'Iran retaliated by firing waves of ballistic missiles at Israel, where explosions flared in the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below,' the Associated Press reported Saturday. The Jerusalem Post reported Monday that the Israeli Defence Force 'provided its first statistics of the war on its shoot down success against Iran's ballistic missiles, setting it at 80-90 per cent, with only about 5-10 per cent of ballistic missiles hitting actual residential areas.' Per the Post, 'eight more Israeli civilians were killed in Iran's Sunday-Monday middle-of-the-night attacks, bringing the total number of deaths to 24, with one more missing person expected to be declared dead in the coming hours.' Here's what we know about Israel's missile defence systems, including how they work and why some missiles are still getting through. Israel fields three tiers of missile defence systems, Rumbaugh said. 'At the lowest tier is Iron Dome, which has gotten more popularity just because it gets used a lot more often against rocket and maybe lower-tier cruise missile attacks. Every time that Hamas shoots rockets at Israel, that's where Iron Dome comes in.' Recent exchanges with Iran 'are more illustrative of some of the higher tier systems — that's The Arrow missile defence system or the David's Sling missile defence system,' he said. 'Those systems intercept longer range missiles coming from Iranian territory. The Arrow system intercepts them' outside of the earth's atmosphere, Rumbaugh said. 'When it comes to missile defence systems, all of them work in a similar way,' Rumbaugh said. They all have radar systems that detect the incoming threat, some sort of control system that manages data coming in from all the various sensors 'that allows them to form a track and then translate that information to a watcher system that then engages the threat,' he said. 'In all of these cases, the engagement system is a surface-to-air missile that goes up and intercepts the threat through kinetic energy.' It reportedly costs about $50,000 to fire one interceptor from the Iron Dome system, and each missile fired from the other two would likely cost more than that, Rumbaugh said. Rumbaugh noted that the U.S. contributes about $500 million a year toward Israel's missile defence. 'Right now, I think you're getting a lot of engagements for, most likely, The Arrow system,' he said, noting Germany is acquiring the Israeli-developed system for its own protection. 'We're seeing long-range missiles fired from Iranian territory to Israel, and so to engage those at the higher speeds, you want to engage them a little bit farther away.' The further a missile travels, the faster it will be moving 'because it goes up to a higher apogee and then is coming down at a quicker rate, and so you need an interceptor that is just a little bit more capable. The Iron Dome is designed to be able to intercept smaller rocket systems like the Katyusha rockets that Hamas fields.' While the Iron Dome isn't much use against long-range missiles, it would be capable of defending against Iranian drone attacks, Rumbaugh pointed out. 'It is far too soon to have a conclusive assessment of effectiveness of the systems,' he said. 'We saw multiple examples of reasonable effectiveness of Israeli missile defence systems against Iranian attack last year. The question going forward … will be just when do the inventories start to deplete of interceptor missiles? There's not an infinite supply of these capabilities.' There are also reports, he said, of the U.S. Navy intercepting Iranian missiles with their Standard Missile 3, a ship-based surface-to-air missile. It's difficult to determine 'from grainy Twitter videos' what Iranian missiles are getting through to Israel, he said. 'There's no such thing as a perfect air and missile defence system,' Rumbaugh said. 'It's not going to stop every single missile…. Because it's just a very technical, challenging mission set, it's going to be a challenge to have a perfect defence. And as inventories sort of deplete, Israel is going to have to get more choosy and will have to make more difficult decisions about its interceptor usage and it's going to have to prioritize certain target sets or certain areas for defence over others.' Some Israeli citizens might be surprised to see missiles making it through the country's defences, Rumbaugh said. 'But I think the Israeli military probably knew and would have … factored into its decision to launch these strikes that at least some are going to get through. Even when Iron Dome is defending against rocket attacks, some of those rockets get through and, to some degree, that's occasionally a decision of the system.' If the Iron Dome detects a missile or a rocket 'isn't going toward a highly populated area, they'll preserve interceptors by not engaging that particular missile,' Rumbaugh said. The Israeli defence establishment is obliged to let the public know about casualties and what they can expect in terms of missile attacks, he said. 'The Israeli public does not want to live near their bomb shelters for an indefinite period of time,' Rumbaugh said. Rumbaugh couldn't say when Israel will run out of interceptors. 'Those sorts of inventory numbers are pretty tightly held secrets for a reason. You don't want to say how many missiles it takes to exhaust your inventory' because that would help Iran plan its attacks, Rumbaugh said. Though he noted Israel has 'managed to make the defensive task more tractable with some of their efforts to destroy Iranian missile production bases as well as destroying Iranian missiles and launchers through some of their air strikes.' But it's 'difficult to get them all,' he said. 'Both the United States and Israel have tried to eliminate the Houthis' abilities to launch missiles in the Red Sea over the last couple of years with limited success.' This is likely 'the most sustained and long-term defence' Israel has mounted against ballistic missiles, Rumbaugh said. 'They've dealt with periods where there has been lots of rocket fire from Hamas and other groups in the area,' including Hezbollah, he said. Those might have involved deploying more interceptors, Rumbaugh said. 'But the technical sophistication of the long-range missiles that Iran is firing, combined with the period over which Israel is having to defend (itself) over multiple days,' means this has been one of the 'longer range air and missile defence engagements that Israel has seen.' Israeli air bases are likely on Iran's top list of targets, he said. 'They probably need to disrupt Israeli air operations as much as possible, considering that those are what are delivering the majority of the weapons on Iranian territory right now that are destroying some of the nuclear infrastructure and are being used to carry out the attacks on Iranian military leadership,' Rumbaugh said. 'But then as the (supply of) Iranian missiles gets lower and lower, do you start to shift your focus toward civilian areas to sort of start inflicting punishment on civilian areas in an attempt to create pressure on the Israeli government to stop becomes one of the considerations that Iran's leadership has to make.' Israel hasn't been able to hit some Iranian nuclear facilities 'because they're buried deep in the mountains and they would need certain munitions types that they don't have and that the United States fields in terms of the massive ordnance penetrator type weapons,' known as Bunker Busters, Rumbaugh said. 'But is the goal to entirely roll back Iran's civilian nuclear industry? Or is Israel's goal to weaken (and) reduce the capacity of Iran's missile capabilities?' He questions whether regime change in Iran is the goal of Israeli air strikes. 'I'm not seeing Israel being able to mobilize the sort of ground forces they would need to impose regime change militarily, so will air strikes be sufficient is sort of an unclear picture for me.' Israel has said this could be a 'multi-week' set of operations, according to Rumbaugh. 'So, we might just be at the start of this.'
Edmonton Journal
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Edmonton Journal
Why are Iranian missiles hitting Israel? What to know about Iron Dome and other defence systems
Article content Defence systems known as David's Sling and The Arrow are also both helping Israel to intercept and destroy long-range missiles fired from Iran. But even Israel's vaunted missile defence system can't stop everything. The Iranian missile attacks began June 13 after Israel launched what it called a pre-emptive strike to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Operation Rising Lion targeted Iranian nuclear sites and military installations, killing hundreds, including several of the country's top military leaders. 'Iran retaliated by firing waves of ballistic missiles at Israel, where explosions flared in the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below,' the Associated Press reported Saturday. The Jerusalem Post reported Monday that the Israeli Defence Force 'provided its first statistics of the war on its shoot down success against Iran's ballistic missiles, setting it at 80-90 per cent, with only about 5-10 per cent of ballistic missiles hitting actual residential areas.'
Calgary Herald
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Why are Iranian missiles hitting Israel? What to know about Iron Dome and other defence systems
It's not just the so-called Iron Dome that's protecting Israel from hundreds of Iranian missiles. Article content The term Iron Dome has become 'a stand-in for Israeli missile defence more broadly; so, it's kind of like how we use Kleenex to describe every type of facial tissue,' said Wes Rumbaugh, a fellow in the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Article content Article content Article content Defence systems known as David's Sling and The Arrow are also both helping Israel to intercept and destroy long-range missiles fired from Iran. But even Israel's vaunted missile defence system can't stop everything. Article content Article content The Iranian missile attacks began June 13 after Israel launched what it called a pre-emptive strike to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Operation Rising Lion targeted Iranian nuclear sites and military installations, killing hundreds, including several of the country's top military leaders. Article content 'Iran retaliated by firing waves of ballistic missiles at Israel, where explosions flared in the skies over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and shook the buildings below,' the Associated Press reported Saturday. Article content The Jerusalem Post reported Monday that the Israeli Defence Force 'provided its first statistics of the war on its shoot down success against Iran's ballistic missiles, setting it at 80-90 per cent, with only about 5-10 per cent of ballistic missiles hitting actual residential areas.' Article content Article content Per the Post, 'eight more Israeli civilians were killed in Iran's Sunday-Monday middle-of-the-night attacks, bringing the total number of deaths to 24, with one more missing person expected to be declared dead in the coming hours.' Article content Article content Here's what we know about Israel's missile defence systems, including how they work and why some missiles are still getting through.
Global News
24-05-2025
- Business
- Global News
How could Trump's ‘Golden Dome' work, and should Canada be part of it?
Canada's national security would benefit from participation in U.S. President Donald Trump's 'Golden Dome' missile defence plan, policy experts say. But it will likely take years — if not decades — to fully implement. 'Of course you want an alliance system where you're working together,' said Rob Huebert, a political science professor at the University of Calgary and interim director of the Centre for Military Security and Strategic Studies. 'We're a little power next to the world's biggest power, and that's just part of the reality.' 1:26 China slams Trump's 'Golden Dome', says it risks an arms race The Prime Minister's Office confirmed Tuesday that the federal government's talks with the U.S. about a new economic and security partnership 'naturally include strengthening NORAD and related initiatives such as the Golden Dome.' Story continues below advertisement 'We are conscious that we have an ability, if we so choose, to complete the Golden Dome with investments and partnership, and it's something that we are looking at and something that has been discussed at a high level,' Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters Wednesday. Trump said while announcing his concept for the estimated US$175-billion system that 'Canada has called us and they want to be a part of it,' adding the country will have to 'pay their fair share.' Carney would not say how much money Canada would be willing to spend on the project. How would a Golden Dome work? Despite tensions over trade and defence spending under the Trump administration, experts say it's natural for Canada to play a role in a new continental missile defence system, given the evolving threat environment — particularly in the Arctic. Story continues below advertisement Golden Dome is envisioned to include ground- and space-based capabilities, including potentially hundreds of satellites. These would be able to detect and stop missiles at all four major stages of a potential attack: detecting and destroying them before a launch, intercepting them in their earliest stage of flight, stopping them mid-course in the air, or halting them in the final minutes as they descend toward a target. The space-deployed components alone would make the system far more advanced than the Iron Dome, the name collectively used for Israel's multilayered missile defence system that was developed with U.S. support. The Iron Dome system itself specializes in shooting down short-range rockets. It works alongside two other systems: The Arrow, which operates outside the atmosphere and intercepts long-range missiles, and David's Sling, which is meant to intercept medium-range missiles. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Israel says its missile defence system is over 90 per cent effective. Last year, when Iran attacked Israel with hundreds of drones and ballistic and cruise missiles, the Israeli military said 99 per cent of those projectiles were intercepted. 3:10 Israel weighs how to react to Iran's drone, missile attacks Richard Shimooka, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute who studies defence policy, said the Golden Dome system will need to have an effective zero-per cent failure rate, given the far deadlier missiles it will be tasked with intercepting. Story continues below advertisement 'This is orders of magnitude greater than anything Iron Dome seeks to achieve,' he told Global News. 'Israel is a small, contiguous country — most of the missiles that are hitting Israel can travel less than 100 kilometres.' Shimooka continued: '(For the Golden Dome) we're talking about missiles that at a minimum have to hit around 4,000 kilometres, that use suborbital trajectories … They'll likely be nuclear missiles, so you can't just say 'oops' if you miss one, because that means a city is getting levelled.' The idea of a space-based defence system dates back to former U.S. president Ronald Reagan's short-lived 'Star Wars' project, which was abandoned in the 1980s due to insufficient technology. When could it become operational? Trump said Tuesday he expects the system will be 'fully operational before the end of my term,' which ends in 2029, a timeline experts say is not realistic. Story continues below advertisement 'I'd be surprised if you'll see this happen by the end of the next president's term,' Shimooka said, citing not just budget constraints and cuts being pushed by Republicans in Congress but also the complexity of the proposed system. What's more likely, Shimooka and others say, is an initial phase of the plan could be in the earliest stages of operations years down the road, with the full system not up and running until the next decade at the earliest. How would Canada benefit? Canada and the United States already work together through the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, which can detect and shoot down some missile threats such as cruise missiles. However, Canada is not part of the U.S. ballistic missile defence system under U.S. Northern Command, which currently has sole authority to shoot down those missiles. Story continues below advertisement 'We are not in the room for some of the discussions that are pretty critical for North American defence,' Shimooka said. 1:19 Canada must respond in an 'integrated way' to different threats, including missiles: Anand Former prime minister Paul Martin announced in 2005 that Canada would not join the U.S. system, which was developed primarily to counter North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program. In the decades since, experts say the threat environment has evolved to the point where deterrence through defence is necessary. 'The Russians and the Chinese are at our doorstep,' said retired Maj.-Gen. Scott Clancy, the former director of operations for NORAD. 'They use their bombers to approach our airspace, they use their submarines to approach our waters, they go miles off our coastlines and could attack us without warning at any given time.' Story continues below advertisement The Pentagon has warned for years that the newest missiles developed by China and Russia are so advanced that updated countermeasures are necessary. In 2023, experts told the House of Commons and Senate defence committees that Canada should look toward multilayered air and missile defence systems that can intercept the growing variety of threats, from drones and submarine-launched missiles to space-deployed weapons, hypersonic missiles and ICBMs. 'If you can counter these things, then it diminishes the reality of the strike happening in the first place by deterring it,' Clancy said. Counter to what Canada argued in 2005, he added, 'You have to achieve real defensive capability to achieve deterrence.' What could Canada contribute? In March, Carney announced a $6-billion radar purchase from Australia and an expansion of military operations in the Arctic. Story continues below advertisement The Over-the-Horizon Radar system is expected to provide early warning radar coverage from the Canada-United States border into the Arctic and is part of the government's previously announced $40-billion NORAD modernization plan. 4:36 Carney announces Canada will partner with Australia on Arctic over-the-horizon radar system Last year's defence policy update committed to an investment in integrated air and missile defence. Those capabilities will almost certainly contribute to a Golden Dome system, experts said. Trump has said he wants all new space-deployed systems to be built in the U.S. Shimooka said Canada would likely not want to contribute to that effort, given the costs and complexity involved, but could play a role in its operation. Canadian investment in the Golden Dome could help Canada finally reach NATO's target of spending at least two per cent of GDP on defence, which Carney aims to hit by 2030. Story continues below advertisement 'It makes sense geo-strategically, it makes sense financially, it makes sense for us as a secure and stable ally within the western world,' Clancy said. —With files from Global's Touria Izri and The Associated Press
Boston Globe
21-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Trump's ‘Golden Dome' missile defense plan was inspired by Israel's multitiered defenses
The sophisticated system, developed over decades with considerable U.S. support, is capable of detecting incoming fire and deploying only if the projectile is headed toward a population center or sensitive military or civilian infrastructure. Israeli leaders say the system isn't 100% guaranteed, but credit it with preventing serious damage and countless casualties. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Here's a closer look at Israel's multilayered air-defense system: Advertisement The Arrow This system developed with the U.S. is designed to intercept long-range missiles. The Arrow, which operates outside the atmosphere, has been used to intercept long-range missiles launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and by Iran itself during two direct exchanges of fire last year. David's Sling Also developed with the U.S., David's Sling is meant to intercept medium-range missiles, such as those possessed by Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group. It was deployed on multiple occasions throughout the war with Hezbollah, which ended with a ceasefire last year. Advertisement Iron Dome This system, developed by Israel with U.S. backing, specializes in shooting down short-range rockets. It has intercepted thousands of rockets since it was activated early last decade — including volleys launched by Hamas and Hezbollah. Israel says it has a success rate of over 90%. Iron Beam Israel is developing a new system to intercept incoming threats with laser technology. Israel has said this system will be a game changer because it would be much cheaper to operate than existing systems. According to Israeli media reports, the cost of a single Iron Dome interception is about $50,000, while the other systems can run more than $2 million per missile. Iron Beam interceptions, by contrast, would cost a few dollars apiece, according to Israeli officials — but the system is not yet operational.
