One of the frightening things of the Israeli camp over their current armed conflict with Palestine is the breakdown of the Iron Dome, the pride of Israel.
Since the beginning of the conflict again last week, Hamas fighters have fired thousands of missiles or rockets into Israeli settlements.
The massive missile attack was finally able to penetrate Israel's Iron Dome, which has been the main defense against Palestinian and Lebanese attacks.
Iron Dome or Iron Dome is a super-sophisticated defense system built by Israel. The cost of building and purchasing the anti-missile weapon machine is in the billions of United States dollars (US).
Hamas' Sijeel missile launched from Gaza last week successfully passed through the Iron Dome air defense system. These missiles hit a house in Ashkelon, Israel, killing two Israelis in their 60s and 80s. Reuters reported that the Sijeel rocket was fired by the Izzuddin al-Qassem Brigades, Hamas military wing, on Wednesday (12 May 2021). As a result, dozens of houses belonging to Israelis were partially damaged.
Israeli police said more than 90 people in Ashdod and Ashkelon were injured by rocket and missile blasts.
In addition to the destroyed houses, school buildings in Israel were also damaged by a Hamas missile that was able to penetrate Israel's Iron Dome. Luckily, none of the students go to school.
The Israeli state company's energy pipeline was also hit by a Hamas missile strike. The flames were seen soaring near the city of Ashkelon, which is located south of Tel Aviv.
The Israeli media community also regretted the breakdown of the Iron Dome system. Israeli officials say the effectiveness of Iron Dome is indeed 90 percent, meaning that there is a 10 percent chance that Iron Dome can be breached by a rain of missiles or rockets.
Even though Israel has just increased the Iron Dome's capabilities. The Israeli Ministry of Defense announced Tuesday (March 16) that it had completed upgrading the Iron Dome rocket defense system to address additional air threats. The ministry's head of missile defense, Moshe Patel, said Iron Dome had completed a series of tests that included intercepting rockets and missiles simultaneously from multiple unmanned aerial vehicles.
Iron Dome Needs High Cost
This system can repel rockets fired from a distance of up to 70 kilometers. One Iron Dome mobile unit reinforced by 60 rockets can protect a medium-sized city. To protect all of its territory Israel is believed to need 13 units.
Rafael Defense Systems claims its system has a 90 percent success rate. The head of the air defense authority, Moshe Patel, said that over the past ten years, Iron Dome has destroyed 2,400 rockets.
"Every rocket destroyed is one that leads to civilian settlements," the Defense Ministry wrote on its website.
According to Israeli military information, in the latest escalation Hamas fired more than 1,000 rockets, with about 200 of them landing in the Gaza Strip.
Rain rockets fired from one location in the Gaza Strip forced the Iron Dome system to operate to capacity limits. This is because although they were effective, some rockets still managed to hit residential areas.
One of the biggest drawbacks of Iron Dome is the price that reaches Rp 1.1 billion per shot. This also limits the use of the system developed by the United States.
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