By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
President Biden mentioned the well-known Iron Dome Israeli air defense system in his Oval Office address discussing US support to Israel, perhaps because the proven system can stop ballistic missiles, drones, artillery, mortars with increasing precision using a “Tamir ” interceptor missile. It would make sense that the President would refer to this, given the extreme dangers presented to Israeli Defense Forces, government institutions and civilians by Hamas and its well-known terrorist tactics. Hamas is known to possess a large number of Iran-provided ballistic missiles and of course the group has been quite visible and transparent about its willingness to target and kill Israeli civilians. Given its ability to “mass” interceptors and destroy multiple maneuvering targets at one time, Biden was likely referring to a need to “scale” and simply “increase” the number of Iron Dome systems placed throughout Israel. Perhaps he intends to fast-track some of the newly established industrial base infrastructure aimed at producing Iron Dome in the US for the US Army.
A system such as Iron Dome relies heavily upon sensors, radar and advanced fire control to establish a “target track” on an incoming enemy attack; Iron Dome has proven its effectiveness to the point wherein the US Army has decided to leverage an advanced Rafael-Defense-Raytheon partnership to establish US-based production facilities to make Iron Dome for the US Army. Due to its effectiveness, the Pentagon plans to send Iron Dome to Guam as part of an integrated effort to defend against a possible Chinese attack.
“Iron Dome detects, assesses and intercepts a variety of shorter-range targets such as rockets, artillery and mortars. It is effective day or night and in all weather conditions including low clouds, rain, dust storms and fog. It features a first-of-its-kind multi-mission launcher designed to fire a variety of interceptor missiles,” a Raytheon statement says.
As part of its technological envelope, Iron Dome can use a “proximity” fuse to ensure the interceptor detonates in the vicinity of certain threats at a certain point in the air, enabling the weapon to destroy multiple incoming enemy projectiles in close proximity to one another. Tamir is also enabled by steering fins and precision-guidance technology.
Advanced variants of Iron Dome may also use non-kinetic means of intercepting such as EW systems integrated into a missile or perhaps multiple-interceptor warheads combined into a single missile or fired from one system simultaneously. The challenge, however, would be for Iron Dome to succeed in stopping any kind of massive incoming “salvo” of attacking missiles. There may not be enough Iron Dome interceptors, should a huge volume of precision-guided ballistic missiles attack at one time. This may be one reason President Biden mentioned Iron Dome, as its success may depend upon increasing the volume, protective envelope or sheer number of systems dispersed across areas in critical need of protection. Therefore, perhaps the need is to “scale” missile defenses in Israel given the severity of the threat, something which would indeed align with President Biden’s comment.
The pressing nature of the Hamas and Iranian threat is likely a key reason why the Pentagon has fast-tracked Patriot missile batteries to Israel. Much like Iron Dome, advanced variants of the Patriot are capable of detecting, tracking and intercepting multiple ballistic missiles and even cruise missiles.
The Army is also developing a similar new system called Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2 intended to track and destroy approaching enemy fire. Increment 2 includes drone defense alongside cruise missile defense. The weapon system is designed to detect, track and take out mortars, cruise missiles, artillery and drones. Moreover, it is certainly feasible that the Iron Dome could be networked with other drone-defenses and FOB protection weapons.
An Iron Dome system can operate with as many as three or four launchers, each capable of firing 20-interceptors, and the weapon can intercept incoming weapons from ranges as far as 45 miles away.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization and Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
