Ari Sacher, rocket scientist working on a high-profile missile program in Israel, dispels the myths and reveals what's really happening in the area of missile defense in Israel.
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Israel's Ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, says the following:
Before Israel's recent Operation Pillar of Defense, Gaza terrorists fired some 700 rockets and mortars at southern Israel, many of which were taken out by Iron Dome. Still Israel was forced to take action, mounting precise sorties against terrorists and launch sites. In turn the terrorists fired 1,500 rockets, some aimed at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. These might have inflicted severe human and material loss, but Iron Dome downed nearly 85% of those headed toward populated areas.
Combined with Israel's world-class civil-defense system, Iron Dome thwarted the terrorists' aim to wreak intolerable damage. Consequently, Israeli leaders had the time and space needed to join with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi in working out a cease-fire. More than 50,000 Israeli reservists who had assembled on Gaza's border returned peacefully to their families.
Iron Dome is thus a game-changer, but it isn't a game-ender. Terrorists on our borders have more than 70,000 rockets, and 15 of every 100 fired can still get through the Iron Dome. The danger even of conventional warheads is unacceptable, but nuclear warheads would pose an existential threat. That is why, together with the U.S., Israel has developed the Arrow to intercept orbital and suborbital ballistic missiles, and we have successfully tested David's Sling, a long-range rocket-defense system.
These innovations will not only protect Israel but enhance security for America and its allies world-wide. Yet no air-defense system is foolproof, and robust offensive capabilities remain necessary to protect Israelis from harm. Iron hulls once made war ships invulnerable, but the skies cannot be armored. At least Iron Dome, along with Arrow and David's Sling, makes them safer.
