Iron Dome

Iron Dome is an Israeli mobile air defense system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems with Israel Aerospace Industries, designed to intercept short-range rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds of the kind fired into Israeli territory from Gaza and Lebanon, and it became operational in 2011. Each battery combines a detection radar, a battle management and control system that calculates whether an incoming projectile threatens a populated area, and a launcher firing Tamir interceptor missiles, and the system's key innovation is that it only fires an interceptor at rockets it calculates will actually strike a populated area or sensitive site, letting projectiles headed for open ground land unengaged to save costly interceptors. Iron Dome has been credited with a high interception rate against short-range rocket barrages during multiple rounds of conflict between Israel and Gaza-based militant groups since 2011, and the system's success led the United States to fund joint production and to acquire batteries of its own.