In the ongoing, rocket vs. interceptor war in Palestine, Hamas fired over 650 rockets a day, which Israel’s Iron Dome system quickly intercepted. So, will Israel go bankrupt as a result? After all, rockets are cheap, but interceptors are expensive! But, in reality, Israel’s costs are no higher than Hamas’s.
First of all, Hamas is now launching long past the early Kassam rockets, which were all homemade rockets with poor accuracy and close range. Since 2012, Hamas has been equipped with Iran’s Victory 5 rockets. Jafari, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, admitted that Iran did provide Victory 5 rocket technology to Palestinian militants.
It is a solid-fuel rocket that can reach a range of 60-75 kilometers. It is roughly divided into several major parts, including the solid rocket motor, tail section, combat section and fuze. Such a rocket also costs at least several thousand dollars a round. Iran supplies these weapons and ammunition to Hamas, mainly through Syria and by sea. However, in recent years, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria.
A large number of Iranian ammunition depots and convoys have been destroyed by Israeli air strikes, and only a small fraction of Iranian weapons and ammunition can be brought into Palestine. Therefore, the cost to Iran and Hamas is actually very high, probably a thousand and one, and would have shipped 5 rockets to Syria because of the Israeli airstrikes on Iranian ammunition depots in Syria. In the end, only 1 rocket could be shipped into Palestine. So that makes the cost of one rocket very high.
With Iran spending $5-20 billion a year in Syria, the cost of maintaining Iranian forces in Syria is not low at all.
The 2nd problem is that the cost of the Israeli Iron Dome system is, well, not that high. The U.S. Patriot class of missiles, which are very costly, cost $1-2 million for a single missile. However, Israel’s Iron Dome interceptors, which are assembled from commercial civilian parts, cost only $20-40,000 a piece.
The real core technology of the Iron Dome system is a ground-based system that allows for target trajectory confirmation and automatic allocation technology, which means that the country is divided into important and unimportant areas, and when a large number of rockets fly, the landing points of thousands of rockets can be counted at the same time. When the landing point is not in an important area, such as a wasteland, it is ignored, while in an important area the rockets that need to be intercepted are automatically assigned to the Iron Dome system in the interception area. Also the rockets are multi-linked, and the Iron Dome is multi-linked, and can intercept as fast as 1 round per second.
Israel’s real anti-missile, too, does not rely on the Iron Dome, but on the Israeli Air Force. In a 24-hour period on the 11th, the IAF has destroyed 130 Hamas military targets, while on the 12th, Israeli warplanes destroyed 100 Hamas rocket launching positions. It even began launching targeted killings against Hamas commanders and rocket operators’ residences. In the past, Israeli forces have been very cautious about attacking the homes of opposing commanders, including family members.
But this time, Israel got really angry and launched direct precision bombing of Hamas commanders’ homes. Palestinian media revealed that Hassan Abu Atta, deputy commander of Hamas’ Al-Quds Brigades, and Samah Abid Mamluk, the senior commander in charge of rocket fire, have been targeted by Israel.
Israel’s anti-missile four-part series, the first is source strikes, airstrikes on Iranian ammunition depots in Syria, the second is interception, precision interception using the Iron Dome system, and the third, is the first airstrikes on rocket positions and each other’s ammunition depots, military bases, training centers, intelligence centers, etc. Fourth, it is the targeted killing of the opponent’s commander and rocket operator’s residence.
Mainland netizens commented.
Some said, “Well done Israel,” a comment supported by more than 26,000 netizens.
Others said, “Many Palestinians work and even serve as soldiers in Israel, and they are much tougher against Hamas.”
Netizens commented, “Targeted killings are effective.”
Another netizen said, “Yunnan netizens sent congratulatory messages, go Israel”
Several of the above comments were supported by thousands of netizens.
Some said, “Little Israel, exterminate it in minutes…” Another netizen was amused, replying “Remember to take your medicine at eight o’clock”, a six-word reply that received the support of 5,704 netizens.
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