Iron Dome - Background

Background

See also: Second Lebanon War#Israeli civilians and Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel

The Islamic Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, began firing rockets indiscriminately into northern Israeli population centers in the 1990s, posing a security challenge for the Israel Defense Forces. Israel had floated the idea of its own short-range antimissile system, but American defense officials cautioned that it would be "doomed to fail".

In 2004, the idea for Iron Dome gained momentum with the installation of Brig. Gen. Daniel Gold as the head of the IDF's research and development bureau. Gold was a strong backer of the antimissile project, even skirting army contracting regulations to secure financing. He also helped persuade key politicians to support the project.

During the 2006 Second Lebanon War, approximately 4,000 Hezbollah-fired rockets (the great majority of which were short-range Katyusha rockets) landed in northern Israel, including on Haifa, the country's third largest city. The massive rocket barrage killed 44 Israeli civilians and caused some 250,000 Israeli citizens to evacuate and relocate to other parts of Israel while an estimated 1 million Israelis were confined in or near bomb shelters during the conflict.

To the south, more than 4,000 rockets and 4,000 mortar bombs were fired indiscriminately into Israeli population centers from Gaza between 2000 and 2008, principally by Hamas. Almost all of the rockets fired were Qassams launched by 122 mm Grad launchers smuggled into the Gaza Strip, giving longer range than other launch methods. Nearly a million Israelis living in the south were within rocket range, posing a serious security threat to the country and its citizens.

In February 2007, Defense Minister Amir Peretz selected Iron Dome as Israel's defensive solution to this short-range rocket threat. Since then, the US$210 million system has been developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems working jointly with the Israel Defense Forces.