Southern Israel's new tourist attraction
Southern Israel has a new tourist attraction - and it's not just for the politicians or the tourists. It's more for the locals. It's the Iron Dome installation. But despite this natural beauty, the real attraction bringing tens of visitors since the early morning hours is a human one. Swallowed up, almost invisible is the battery, next to it a make-shift tent, a military vehicle and a single, yellow bathroom. A few soldiers guard this small area, visible from the windows of the houses up above. This is one of two batteries of the anti-rocket system called the Iron Dome, which intercepts short-range rockets landing anywhere from 5 kilometers to 70 kilometers away from their launch site. The system was developed by the Rafael and Elta companies and was recently deployed for an operational trial.This report struck me as odd. We used to bring food packages to soldiers at the checkpoint on Route 443 near Maccabim until the IDF told the soldiers not to accept any packages. So I'm kind of surprised that the Iron Dome operators are being allowed to accept packages.
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The stroll in the field would not have happened without the battery. “Without a doubt, I feel safer. If we didn’t have this, I wouldn’t go out to walk around with my daughter and there is no chance I would stay in Ashkelon,” he says. “During Cast Lead we fled from the city and just weren’t here throughout the entire period.”
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Since that first successful interception on Thursday (Apr. 7) in the late afternoon, all those who were skeptical and doubted the new system’s abilities were forced to admit it really works. As of right now, the Iron Dome system has already intercepted nine rockets launched at populated communities in the South. Most of the interceptions took place in Ashkelon as well as most of the sirens.
As a result, aside from the new national pastime of walking to the batteries by foot and bringing presents to the soldiers operating them, another pastime has been added: documenting the interceptions happening right over the homes of residents with their cameras, cell phones and anything within their grasp. 18-year-old Diana Goldsman documented a successful interception above her home. “When the Grad is intercepted you hear a really loud noise, louder than the usual launching,” she describes it.
The rockets flying above her home are a common phenomenon. “Yesterday, for example, I saw the rockets that the Iron Dome launched in the evening, like a sparkling stain flying toward the Grad. The first interception I heard when I was sleeping and it was shocking and really scared everyone. People ran inside, fled their cars,” she says.
“It’s really scary,” she admits. “On one hand it gives a sense of security, that there is something protecting us. On the other hand it’s still really stressful and you’d rather there be nothing at all – no Iron Dome and no rockets being fired at us,” she concludes with hope.
Also, note how they say "from 5 kilometers to 70 kilometers." That means that there are places in the Gaza belt (like where the school bus was hit by the anti-tank missile last week) where Iron Dome will not help.
Finally, someone commented in an earlier post about my assertion that Iron Dome is $50,000 per missile and a Kassam is $100 that "you spend what you have to in order to save lives." Well, yes, except when there is another more cost effective solution or when you cannot afford the more expensive one. The IDF won't be able to spend this kind of money forever unless a rich uncle decides to finance it. I don't see that happening in perpetuity.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:36 PM
5 Comments:
The cost analyses are overdone. The potential cost of damage to infrastructure probably matches or exceeds the cost of intercepting the rockets. In addition, take into account the medical and counseling cost incurred by victims, as well as the psychological toll born by individuals and families who must rush to bomb shelters. Not to mention the regional business, investment and development climate.
I do see an Operation Defensive Shield in the future.
Good luck with it happening as long as Ehud Barak remains Defense Minister.
What could go wrong indeed
Victor, there is a very cost effective solution that works far better than the Iron Dome
it's called the Phalynx. It's a radar controlled cannon and is found on aircraft carriers and other naval ships as an anti-missile defense system.
the phalynx fires hundreds of explosive rounds per minute producing a wall of lead that will stop almost any missile.
the phaalynx costs something like $5m per unit and only have limited range, but a whole bunch of them along the Gaza border will prevent almost anything coming out.
there is one down side to the phalynx... for the palistinians, that is...
the spent shells have to fall somewhere; and if the gun is facing Gaza, they will fall in Gaza.
That's most likely the reason we don't have them... although it would be a terrific deterant (after the first day or so). Sure we'd get lambasted by the usualy suspects, but we are anyway.
Unfortunately, our image is more important to our leaders than our lives!
I'm familiar with phalanx. I don't think the spent shells are the problem, as the US uses phalanx in downtown Baghdad to protect against mortar shells. The issue is that it's a terminal defense weapon. It's useful for protecting fixed installations, like ships, oil refineries, strategic assets, but it doesn't do as well at area defense. I think Israel is also in line to get some phalanx systems for protecting oil facilities in Ashdod and the nuclear reactor at Dimona.
Iron Dome is a much more capable and flexible system. We still don't know exactly what each interceptor costs. Some are saying $50k, others $20k. Really, that's a bargain. I was on Abu Muqawama/Andrew Exum's site the other day, when he was discussing the rockets launched by Hezbollah. It was something like 150-200/day for 30 days. So that's about 6000 max total launched over a 30 day conflict.
The cost to intercept every one of those rockets would be $50k x 6000 = $300 million. That's nothing. Let's say I'm being optimistic and triple that number to $1 Billion, including the cost of the individual batteries. Think of all the damage caused by the rockets, the cost of displacing 1 million Israelis in bomb shelters, lost work productivity, destruction of hundred year old forests, etc. What government wouldn't pay $1 Billion to just make that all go away? It's really a bargain.
And would Hezbollah keep firing rockets knowing that Israel will knock close to 100% of them down, exposing itself to massive retaliation while doing zero damage to the Israeli home front? It's like declawing a cat. You can't buy that kind of power, except that now, Israel can.
More Iron Domes please!
I ended up turning the cost of the interceptors into a blog post, in case anyone is interested. More Iron Dome, Please!
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