The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday deployed for the first time the Iron Dome anti-rocket system amid a sharp escalation of violence along the Gaza border in recent weeks.
Israeli anti-rocket system Iron Dome is deployed in Beersheba, southern Israel, on March 27, 2011. Israel on Sunday started deploying two batteries of the Iron Dome anti-rocket system in the southern country, in a bid to foil longer-range Kassam and Grad rockets from putting over a million Israelis within striking range in major urban areas. [Rafael Ben-Ari/Xinhua] |
Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Friday ordered the deployment of Iron Dome in the face of growing public pressure, saying the decision was approved "as a preliminary trial."
Development of Iron Dome, which tracks and blows up projectiles in mid-air, began in the aftermath of the 2006 Lebanon war, during which an estimated 4,000 Katyusha rockets and mortars showered northern Israel.
The system, which intercepts rockets at ranges of 5 to 70 km, was developed in record-time: about three years from the drawing board to Sunday's deployment. A battery includes three launchers with 20 missiles each.
In November last year, it succeeded in destroying a salvo of three Grad and two Qassam rockets in one of numerous field trials.
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