(National Post-Canada) Matt Gurney - A senior engineer with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the Israeli company that developed the Iron Dome missile defense system, said that during the conflict in November in Gaza, when the system shot down 421 short-range missiles headed for Israeli cities, after a few days of fighting Israel changed its tactical doctrine. Iron Dome used to fire two interceptors at every rocket, in case the first missed. They quickly realized that was a waste. The system was good enough that if it wasn't possible on the first shot, the second wouldn't get it, either. He said as long as the equipment works, they expect to hit their target every time. Every day of the conflict, military officers gave his company all of the data collected by Iron Dome computers and military radars for the last 24 hours. Rafael engineers would then work through the night, tweaking the software that controls Iron Dome. "The improvements were measurable," the engineer told me. "We did a little bit better every day." He recounted how Israel added another battery of Iron Dome interceptors to Tel Aviv in the middle of the conflict, assembling the disparate components of the full battery in just two days. All previous batteries had taken two weeks to activate. Because of Iron Dome, "we didn't have to invade Gaza....And all the interceptors we fired cost less than one day of ground fighting in Gaza." Hamas might not like to admit it, but Iron Dome saved Palestinian lives, too.
2012-12-31 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive