June 3,
2008: Israel is making a major effort to
get the "Iron Dome" anti-rocket system, to protect towns and other facilities
in southern and northern Israel, into service. Last year, it was believed it
would take until 2012 to deploy the system. But now, deployment is expected in
2010, if not sooner. To that end, the developer, major defense firm Rafael, got
religious authorities to allow work to continue on Saturdays, which is the
Jewish day of worship and, in Israel, a time when many firms shut down
(especially those doing work for the government). Exceptions are made, by
religious authorities, for national emergencies or matters of life and death.
Iron Dome
operates by using two radars to quickly
calculate the trajectory of the incoming rocket (Palestinian Kassams from Gaza,
or Russian and Iranian designs favored by Hizbollah in Lebanon) and do nothing
if the rocket trajectory indicates it is going to land in an uninhabited area.
But if the computers predict a rocket coming down in an inhabited area, a
$40,000 guided missile is fired to intercept the rocket. This makes the system
cost-effective. That's because Hizbollah fired 4,000 rockets in 2006, and
Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have fired over four thousand Kassam rockets in
the past seven years. But over 90 percent of these rockets landed in
uninhabited areas. Still, 500 interceptor missiles costs $20 million. But that
would save over a hundred lives, and hundreds of injuries. A cheap price to
pay, especially if you are one of the victims, or potential victims. Israel
already has a radar system in place that gives some warning of approaching
rockets. Iron Dome will use that system,
in addition to another, more specialized radar.
Rafaels is
being offered large bonuses if they can get Iron Dome into action sooner. Some
aspects of the work are now proceeding 24/7, so are the rockets coming out of
Gaza.
