Is Israel saving Iron Dome for a bigger threat?

Hope would require peace efforts from both sides. The way I see it, there is no side interested in peace there. Unless you count peace after total extermination of the enemy side, that is… 🙂

hey stud, I agree with you!
so which side will have an easier time to exterminate the other first?

you could say Israel has the weapons to do it
but the other side has a neighbors who’ll be willing to take up revenge on their behalf

The Israelis must have fired off a significant proportion of the stock of Iron Dome missiles. Even with the factory working 24/7, it’s going to take some time to replenish stocks.
….

Both sides will run into that problem. Every ammunition has a limited life-time. So it makes non sense to keep numbers the worst case scenario in mind. From a given level the ground war is triggered within days.
The present “life-test” results allow to upgrade the software further to minimise the number of intercepts to protect the villages only. As claimed above from a given level (set by the politics) a full scale war is started. The Iron Dome is just an option to counter political pressure caused by an erratic threat or give some extra time at least. Iron Dome is no real option to protect all borders of Israel the same time even with the support of other systems. Some hundred firings per day will trigger a full scale war with groundforces because the deterrance has failed, wherever it will be started. Nothing new by the way. Till June 1967 civilian areas in Israel suffered artillery fire and all have in mind the rocket-fire from the Hezbollah. That was some worst case scenario already and led into a limited ground war. At that time scale the Israelis were unprepared in several areas for that kind of warfare.

Adjunct to Iron Dome?

The Israelis must have fired off a significant proportion of the stock of Iron Dome missiles. Even with the factory working 24/7, it’s going to take some time to replenish stocks.

It’s part of a multi-layered system, with Arrow at the top, then Patriot. David’s Sling will slot in somewhere when it’s fully developed.

I do wonder though if the Israelis aren’t missing a small trick here. They’ve got about 135 of these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machbet . The gun forms the basis of Phalanx. So could it be integrated into the Iron Dome system? Placed close to potential targets it could provide VSHORAD of any leaker rockets or, if things get really sticky, the last line of defence if Iron Dome stocks run out in a sustained conflict. 20mm ammo being considerably cheaper than a guided missile. Low-flying Hamas/Hezbollah UAVs on suicide or recce missions would be toast to the vehicles Stingers or Vulcan.

These vehicles are unlikely to ever be used against attacking fast moving aircraft, so rather than have them sat in a depot gathering dust, develop them as an extra layer in the defence? Just a suggestion.

Hope would require peace efforts from both sides. The way I see it, there is no side interested in peace there. Unless you count peace after total extermination of the enemy side, that is… 🙂

Are you running for a political position or for miss universe ?

Is hope restricted to only them? Certainly nothing wrong in hoping..

Hopefully this cease fire holds and peice prevails..

:rolleyes: Are you running for a political position or for miss universe ?

Israel is firing a $40,000 missile for every $2000 rocket that HAMAS is firing . IDF must find a cost effective solution. Iron Dome is effective but expensive.

A lot of the Missiles got destroyed before they were even fired through the air campaign..And 40K a pop is totally worth it if you factor in the Human cost (lives lost) property damaged, economic impact etc. The question is not 40k vs 2k or 3k, but who can sustain constant replenishment..I for one think it would be a PEICE OF CAKE economically to replenish their inventory of ID missiles but for hamas getting hundereds of NEW missiles is going to be harder (smuggling them through egypt).. Hopefully this cease fire holds and peice prevails..

Not everything is measured by money. Iron Dome protects the Israeli civilian population, thereby providing the Israeli government with more room to maneuver. Had the 200+ rockets intercepted over the past few days fallen on Israel’s towns, the resulting outcry would have almost certainly forced the government to order an immediate ground offensive, with the ensuing mess that would entail.

Besides, when calculating the cost of Iron Dome, one also has to take into effect the economic damage caused by the rockets. Plus, it provides one hell of a sales pitch.

Totally worth it. Amir Peretz, the former defense minister who funded the system despite the misgivings of many experts in the defense establishment, is a national hero.

Yeah, avoiding a ground offensive is the important factor here. As I said in the main forum I get a sneaky feeling that the various factions in Gaza are actively pushing Israel into a ground offensive. Problem is Hamas doesn’t have full control over all these factions and post the Egyptian revolution they might think that Egypt might be more inclined to help or even intervene in such a situation.

Apparently a cease fire has been negotiated between Israel and Hamas to come into effect in the next hour but those factions outside of Hamas control might think otherwise.

By the wy Iron Dome is a dual use system. You can protect everything with that under a similar threat. In that very case it is against a real terror attacks. The people in power from Gaza are targeting civil targets, whatever they claim to target. 😎

Israel is firing a $40,000 missile for every $2000 rocket that HAMAS is firing . IDF must find a cost effective solution. Iron Dome is effective but expensive.

Not everything is measured by money. Iron Dome protects the Israeli civilian population, thereby providing the Israeli government with more room to maneuver. Had the 200+ rockets intercepted over the past few days fallen on Israel’s towns, the resulting outcry would have almost certainly forced the government to order an immediate ground offensive, with the ensuing mess that would entail.

Besides, when calculating the cost of Iron Dome, one also has to take into effect the economic damage caused by the rockets. Plus, it provides one hell of a sales pitch.

Totally worth it. Amir Peretz, the former defense minister who funded the system despite the misgivings of many experts in the defense establishment, is a national hero.

Certainly that last point is one which the media overlook in their coverage.

If you just watched mainstream news outlets you would think that every time a Hamas rocket is fired Israel is forced to launch one or more interceptors whereas the truth is the system only fires when it needs to.

Israel is firing a $40,000 missile for every $2000 rocket that HAMAS is firing . IDF must find a cost effective solution. Iron Dome is effective but expensive.

The trajectory is calculated and compared to a map,
if the warhead will drop on uninhabited (or Palestine) land, no interceptor is wasted.

They probably brake even, or may even have a one up on the war economy vs Hamas

Israel is firing a $40,000 missile for every $2000 rocket that HAMAS is firing . IDF must find a cost effective solution. Iron Dome is effective but expensive.

I spent the day in Beer Sheba today. 8 times the sirens went off, 8 times we scrambled for shelter, and 8 times we heard distant explosions. Yet no one was hurt. Iron Dome got them all. On our way back north we chanced to see Iron Dome missiles take out another barage targetting Ashdod (where an earlier barrage managed to get one missile through, a residential building in the city taking a direct hit), the system’s Tamir missiles looking like red streaks shooting up into the sky, only to end in small flashes. An amazing sight really.

The Israeli Defense Forces twitter feed states that Iron Dome has been very successful in neutralizing Palestinian rockets in the ongoing conflict.

Thanks gents. Perhaps then there is something to my conspiracy despite my lack of research:)

BBC article quoted the IDF as saying that Iron Dome has intercepted 145 of 200 attacks during the unrest.

I certainly hope the Israelis have been stockpiling munitions for it though. Hamas doesn’t appear to be going all out yet, and Hezbollah is likely to have a much greater capability than Hamas if they choose to use it. That might be why the IDF are attempting to strike at source and weapons caches as suggested.

The IDF official website lists 81 successful Iron Dome intercepts in the current round of fighting. here’s a fascinating movie from Beer Sheba, showing a volley of rockets going out from Gaza and the Iron Dome intercepts of at least several:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151145480557832

The trajectory is calculated and compared to a map,
if the warhead will drop on uninhabited (or Palestine) land, no interceptor is wasted