Iran launched retaliatory strikes against Israel on Friday, less than a day after Israel’s military carried out a mass attack targeting Tehran’s nuclear program and top commanders.
With billions of dollars worth of sophisticated and multilayered aerial defenses, Israel has long been prepared for a full-scale assault by Iranian missiles and drones.
Those layers of protection are now being put to the test, with Israeli authorities confirming that missiles hit multiple sites. In previous exchanges between the two countries, Iran mostly targeted Israeli military bases. But the scope of Israel’s assault, which devastated Iran’s military chain of command, could prompt a much wider Iranian counterstrike.
“One of the most effective tactics to inflict maximum damage on the Israeli home front would be to overwhelm its air defense systems,” said Joe Truzman, a senior analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal.
He said Israel will have “only a brief window to detect, assess, and respond to this looming threat.”
Here’s what to know about Israel’s defenses against Iranian attack.
What are Israel’s air defense systems?
Israel’s anti-missile systems include:
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Iron Dome: Israel’s best-known air defense system fires interceptors to take down short-range rockets.
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David’s Sling: This stationary weapon can shoot down short- and medium-range ballistic and cruise missiles. It has a range of about 185 miles. Like the Iron Dome, it is a “hit-to-kill” weapon that takes down targets by flying into them.
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Arrow 2 and 3: These ground-based mobile launchers fire fragmentation warheads packed with explosives that blow up near incoming missiles. The Arrow 2 can intercept targets high in the atmosphere, at an altitude of about 30 miles and a range of about 60 miles. The Arrow 3 can go beyond the atmosphere into space, with a range of up to 1,500 miles. It is one of Israel’s most advanced defenses.
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Iron Beam: This high-powered laser was developed to intercept rockets, drones and anti-tank missiles. It was first deployed in the field after Hamas’s 2023 attack on southern Israel, which prompted wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
What are the biggest threats to Israel’s defenses?
One of the most serious threats posed by Iran comes from its heavyweight ballistic missiles, which fly at the edge of space at many times the speed of sound. They can cross the roughly 1,000 miles between Iran and Israel in just a few minutes.
Antimissile systems like Arrow 3, which have a limited supply of expensive interceptors, do not always hit their ballistic missile targets.
Last October, analysts at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, in California, concluded that Israel had run low on interceptors, after about 30 Iranian ballistic missiles landed near a military base in southern Israel unscathed. Last month, a Houthi missile launched from Yemen evaded Israeli and American air defense systems to strike near Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
It can take years to produce enough missile interceptors to keep them reliably stockpiled, and Israel “has been expending them,” said Tom Karako, a missile defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Another problem for Israel will be tracking and destroying unmanned drones, which fly low and slow, making them much harder to detect. In the past, Israel has scrambled fighter jets to shoot down drones beyond Israel’s borders; failing that, Israeli forces have used the Iron Dome system, which is most effective against short-range rockets.
What about Israel’s allies?
The United States is also helping to defend Israel’s skies.
Days after Iran fired a barrage of about 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in October, the United States sent a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, to bolster Israeli defenses. The THAAD is a mobile surface-to-air interceptor designed to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles, which its radar can detect from more than 1,800 miles away. THAAD can strike incoming targets both within the Earth’s atmosphere and above it.
The Trump administration sent Israel a second THAAD battery earlier this spring, said Yehoshua Kalisky, a military technology expert at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy has deployed the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson to the Arabian Sea; there are more than 60 aircraft aboard the Vinson, including advanced F-35 stealth strike fighters. The American military also has several dozen attack and fighter jets deployed in the Middle East, which were used extensively to defend Israel from Iranian strikes last year.
Neighboring Jordan has said it is continuing to intercept hostile missiles and aircraft entering its airspace, protecting not only its own territory but also serving as a de facto layer of security for Israel.
What’s in Iran’s arsenal?
Iran keeps its military stockpiles and capabilities secret, so experts said it is impossible to know how extended or powerful its airstrikes could be.
Mr. Truzman said Iran could also amass support from its regional proxy militias, in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. On Friday, sirens were triggered in Israel after an incoming ballistic missile was detected from Yemen, but it reportedly landed in an uninhabited area in the West Bank.
Mr. Karako and Mr. Kalisky said Israel likely destroyed many of Iran’s weapons systems with its strikes on Friday.
“It will take the Iranians sometimes to organize the missile force again,” Mr. Kalisky said. “We have several layers of defense, so I don’t worry.”
Lara Jakes, based in Rome, reports on diplomatic and military efforts by the West to support Ukraine in its war with Russia. She has been a journalist for nearly 30 years.
Aaron Boxerman is a Times reporter covering Israel and Gaza. He is based in Jerusalem.
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