ISRAEL: Tel Aviv residents say they feel safer with Iron Dome protection

Record ID: 397559

  • Title: ISRAEL: Tel Aviv residents say they feel safer with Iron Dome protection
  • Date: 17th November 2012
  • Summary: NEAR TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (NOVEMBER 17, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF IRON DOME STATIONED NEAR TEL AVIV VARIOUS OF ISRAELI SOLDIERS NEAR IRON DOME BATTERY CLOSE OF IRON DOME BATTERY MORE OF IRON DOME STATIONED NEAR TEL AVIV TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (NOVEMBER 17, 2012) (REUTERS) WIDE OF MCDONALD'S RESTAURANT VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN STREET CHILDREN PEOPLE EATING AT RESTAURANT (SOUNDBITE) (H
  • Embargoed: 2nd December 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Conflict,Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVABU5TRHKOB8JYV81C2GMGBZ24O
  • Story Text: The Israeli military rushed a fifth Iron Dome anti-missile battery into service on Saturday (November 17) and deployed it in the Tel Aviv area, the army said, underscoring concerns over the range of Palestinian rockets.
    Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip have fired three rockets at Tel Aviv in the past 48 hours. No one was injured and no damage was reported, but the fact that Israel's commercial capital is in the firing line has alarmed many Israelis.
    The Iron Dome system uses a variant of the missile detector on warplanes to spot ground-to-ground rocket and mortar launches. A quick calibration lets it determine whether the missile is on course to hit a populated area, and ignore it if it is not.
    The system is truck-towed for easy transport, and Israel says it needs between 10 and 15 of them for satisfactory nationwide defence.
    The fifth Iron Dome was not supposed to come into service until early 2013. The four other batteries are all deployed much further to the south, close to the Gaza border.
    An army spokeswoman said since the start of an Israeli offensive against militants in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Iron Dome has intercepted at least 222 incoming rockets -- a 90 percent success rate.
    Tel Aviv residents have welcomed the introduction of the Iron Dome to the area. Some went to see the machine and took photos with their mobile phones.
    "After they deployed the battery here it feels much more comfortable even though we hope that the rockets range will not get all the way to us. But if feels much healthier and more comfortable to know that you have this kind of an umbrella such as Iron Dome, because I know has a relatively high percentage of interception. So the chances for a direct hit are low, I hope," said one resident.
    Iron Dome's manufacturer, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd, says it provides protection against incoming hostile rockets with ranges of between 5 km (3 miles) and 70 km (42 miles), as well as mortar bombs.
    Iron Dome was first deployed in April 2011 when it was fielded outside the southern city of Beersheba.
    The system, along with the Israeli ballistic missile shield Arrow, has received extensive support from Washington, which seeks both to reassure and restrain the Jewish state in the face of the nuclear advances of its arch-enemy Iran.
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