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Through Trial and Error, Iran Found Gaps in Israel's Air Defenses

(Wall Street Journal) Zvi Smith - Over 12 days, Iran pierced Israel's defenses with increasing success, showing that even the world's most advanced systems can be penetrated. While most of Iran's missiles and drones were knocked down, Tehran changed tactics and found gaps in Israel's armor through trial and error. Tehran began to launch more advanced and longer-range missiles from a wider range of locations deep inside Iran, according to missile-defense experts. The regime also altered the timing and pattern of attacks and increased the geographic spread of targets. In the first half of the conflict, 8% of Iran's missiles slipped through Israel's defenses. By the second half, 16% got past Israel's interceptors, according to data from the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). On June 22, two days before the end of the war, 10 out of 27 missiles hit Israel, according to JINSA. During the conflict, the Israeli military said it was intercepting 90-95% of Iran's missiles. After the ceasefire on June 24, the military said it had intercepted 86% overall. "We are both on a learning curve," said Yehoshua Kalisky, a missile-defense expert at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies. "They're trying to improve their attacks, and we, our defense."
2025-07-17 00:00:00
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