Iron Dome Air Defense System: Technology and Combat Record
How Iron Dome detects incoming rockets, chooses which threats to engage, and what its combat record measures.
Category pages
- How Iron Dome Detects and Intercepts RocketsIron Dome links radar tracking to battle management that estimates a projectile’s path and decides whether it threatens a defended area. If it does, the system can launch a Tamir interceptor; projectiles forecast to land elsewhere are not engaged.
- Iron Dome's First Combat Interception at AshkelonOn April 7, 2011, the Israel Air Force reported Iron Dome’s first successful combat interception: a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel’s home front. Rafael also dates the system’s first interception to April 2011.
- Iron Dome in Combat: Performance, Limits, and MetricsIron Dome’s reported success rates refer to rockets assessed as threatening defended areas, not every projectile launched. In 2012 the IDF recorded 421 interceptions; in 2021 it reported a 90% interception rate against rockets fired at Israeli civilians.