WarSclerotic

The Israel Air Force’s Iron Dome counter rocket defense system intercepted 27 rockets fired from the Gaza Strip over the weekend, raising the interception rate from 75 percent last year to over 90%.

Israel currently has three Iron Dome batteries in operation – in Ashkelon, Ashdod and Beersheba – and plans to deploy the fourth in the coming months. Its plan is to deploy a total of nine batteries by mid-2013.

The battery in Ashdod intercepted 11 rockets out of 13 fired into the city; the battery in Ashkelon intercepted one rocket and purposely did not intercept four others since they were heading to open fields; and the battery in Beersheba intercepted 15 and allowed two others to land in open fields.

The Iron Dome is designed to defend against rockets at a range of 4-to-70 km., and each battery consists of a multi-mission radar manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries and three launchers, each equipped with 20 interceptors named Tamir.

The radar enables Iron Dome operators to predict the landing site of the enemy rocket and decide not to intercept it if it is slated to fall in an open field. Each interceptor costs around $50,000 and usually two are fired at rockets slated for interception.

The results, IDF officers said were an improvement since 2011, during which the Iron Dome intercepted a total of 33 rockets, at a success rate of just 75 percent. Some of the misses were the results of technical malfunctions which have since been repaired.

The IAF’s Air Defense Division deployed the system in southern Israel in March, 2011 and it has since been activated during the four significant rounds of violence between Israel and Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip – last April, August and October and over the past weekend.

The IDF Home Front Command has dispatched representatives to each local council that has been affected by rocket fire over the weekend, to coordinate preparations and responses.

According to the instructions, all major gatherings of 500 people and more have been banned in towns within 40 kilometers of Gaza. Residents of Sderot and Gaza-border communities should remain within 15-second running distances of safe areas. Ashkelon residents should keep within a 30 second distance, and residents of Ashdod should be within 45 seconds of a safe area.

Due to ongoing escalation, southern police chief Cmdr. Yossi Prienti held a special meeting with emergency responders, and decided to continue keep the district on a high state of alert. Police officers from other districts have been mobilized to the south to reinforce police forces there.

Prienti said emergency services did not know how much longer the current escalation would last.

Yaakov Lappin contributed to the report.