Israelis Modifying Their IRON DOME Air Defense System

April 16, 2014

Rafael looks at Iron Dome enhancements

Gareth Jennings

IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly

An Iron Dome battery engages an incoming rocket during Pillar of Defence in November 2012. Following such operational experiences, Rafael is looking at a number of enhancements to keep the system ahead of the threat curve. Source: PA

Rafael is looking at a number of enhancements to the Iron Dome missile defence system as a result of lessons learned over recent engagements, a company official told IHS Jane’s in early April.

Speaking at the company’s facility near Haifa, its business development and marketing manager for the Air Superiority Systems Directorate, Gil S (the company requested that surnames of its officials not be disclosed), said several improvements are being developed, but that details and timelines are still largely classified.

"There is something in the pipeline, both in terms of hardware and software improvements [to the Iron Dome]. I can’t say exactly what these are or when [they might be rolled out], but we are in a kind of race [with the Palestinian rocket firers] and we always need to update [the system] to increase the probability of a kill," he said.

Since its first successful interception on 7 April 2011, the Iron Dome has engaged more than 700 rockets with an official success rate at greater than 80% (some sources put this figure at 89%).

According to Gil S, the Iron Dome’s concept of operation has changed somewhat since its first engagements, as the operators have learned to have faith in the system. “In the beginning, the IAF [Israeli Air Force] fired two missiles against every inbound target, but now the confidence of the decision-maker has changed and they no longer need to do that,” he said.

Gil S noted that the Pillar of Defence campaign against militants in Gaza in November 2012 proved to be a pivotal moment in how the Iron Dome was deployed and applied. “Pillar of Defence was very important, as the co-operation between the different [batteries] was so tight - all sharing their efforts to defeat the threat.”

During Pillar of Defence some 1,500 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israel. According to figures provided at the time by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), Iron Dome destroyed 426 rockets, with a successful interception rate of 84% (the system is designed to engage only those rockets that it determines are a threat to pre-determined centres of population, leaving the remainder to land in open country).

The IDF has released few technical details about the Iron Dome. Rafael has only confirmed that the missile’s guidance system uses a ‘radar seeker’, and that the weapon’s lethal payload is a ‘special warhead’. Whatever the proposed hardware and software improvements turn out to be, it is clear that the need for Iron Dome is only set to increase in coming years.

On 12 March 2014, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fired between 50 and 130 rockets into southern Israel, compared with 34 for the whole of 2013. Although these escalated strikes were ostensibly in response to an Israeli air strike the day before in which three PIJ members were killed, the PIJ and other militant Palestinian organisations will likely use such methods as a readily available and comparatively low-risk means of striking at Israel for the foreseeable future at least.