Israel ‘worked closely with Pentagon’ to repel Iran attack
• A US operational liaison officer was in the control room of the Arrow ballistic air defence system during barrage
Israel’s repelling of a massive Iranian drone and missile salvo was fully co-ordinated with the Pentagon, which had a US operational liaison officer in the control room of the Arrow ballistic air defence system, says a senior Israeli official.
The US, Britain, France and Jordan, helped Israel intercept the weekend barrage and potentially stave off escalation between the regional enemies.
Israeli warplanes and aerial shields shot down at least half of the hundreds of pilotless oneway planes, cruise missiles and surface-to-surface missiles, which Israel said carried a total of 60 tonnes of explosives, local mdia reported.
Israeli officials said much of the work was done by their Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 high-altitude defence systems, which were developed jointly with the Pentagon and Boeing.
Arrow’s interceptor missiles cost $2m-$3.5m each, according to Israeli industry sources.
Moshe Patel, director of missile defence at Israel’s Defence Ministry, said Arrow and loweraltitude interceptors were synced with counterpart US systems in the region.
“The systems share information, for a joint picture of the sky, and the sky was certainly busy,” Patel told Channel 12 TV.
“There is also co-ordination in battle doctrine. An American officer sits in the control room of the Arrow weapons system and essentially conducts the coordination with the US systems, shoulder to shoulder.”
There was no immediate comment from US Central Command, which oversees Middle East operations. On Sunday the central command said that US forces destroyed more than 80 of the drones and at least six of the ballistic missiles aimed at Israel. Israel said that 99% of all the projectiles were downed in time, limiting the toll to injuries to one person and damage to one military base.
That surprised even Zvika Haimovitch, a retired brigadiergeneral who formerly commanded Israel’s air defences.
“[This was] well-synchronised and co-ordinated between all the elements — the air, the ground forces — and, yes, to be honest it is a great percentage and much more than we expected if you would have asked me three days before,” said Haimovitch .
“But we need to be sure that we will be ready for the next time because for sure there’ll be a next time,” he said.
“We need to take as an assumption that the Iranians will do their homework next time and will try to challenge our systems. That means we need to be one step before and not after our enemies.”
Daniel Gold, director of weapons development at Israel’s defence ministry, said on Channel 12 television that work was already under way on more advanced Arrow models 4 and 5. Arrow 3 shoots down incoming ballistic weapons above the atmosphere, using a detachable warhead that slams into the target in space.
The Maariv newspaper reported that Arrow 3 downed 110 missiles outside Israeli air space, at a potential cost of up to $385m. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on that.
Asked on Army Radio how much the interceptions had cost Israel, finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said he did not know.
Mindful of the need for thrift in the face of foes on several fronts, Israel said in 2022 that it was developing a laser-based missile shield to deliver shootdowns as cheap as $2 each.
“I believe that the laser will be in the next few years one of our main solutions in dealing with a variety of threats rockets, missiles, drones, UAVs and more,” said Haimovitch.