“Israel faces a looming shortage of interceptor missiles as it shores up air defenses to protect the country from attacks by Iran and its proxies, according to industry executives, former military officials and analysts,” the Financial Times reported this morning.
The British business newspaper adds: “The United States is racing to help fill the gaps in Israel’s protective shield, announcing on Sunday the deployment of a high-altitude anti-missile battery (THAAD), ahead of an expected retaliatory strike from Israel on Iran that threatens further regional escalation.
The Financial Times quoted Dana Stroul, a former senior US defense official in charge of the Middle East, as saying: “If Iran responds to an Israeli attack (with a massive air campaign) and Hezbollah responds as well, Israeli air defenses will come under severe pressure.”
She added that the American stock of interceptor missiles is not unlimited. “The United States cannot continue to supply Ukraine and Israel at the same pace. We have reached the tipping point.”
The Financial Times also spoke to Boaz Levy, CEO of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which manufactures the Arrow ballistic defense interceptor missile. He said IAI works three shifts to keep the production lines running.
“Some of our lines operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Our goal is to fulfill all our obligations,” Levy said, adding that the time needed to produce interceptor missiles “is not a matter of days.” While Israel did not reveal the size of its stocks, he added: “It is no secret that we need to replenish stocks.”
The Financial Times explains that Israel’s three-layered air defenses have so far shot down the bulk of incoming drones and missiles fired at the country by Iran and its proxies from across the region. “The country’s Iron Dome system has shot down short-range rockets and drones launched by Hamas from Gaza, while the David’s Sling system has intercepted heavier rockets launched from Lebanon, and the Arrow system has intercepted ballistic missiles from Iran. Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Iraqi militias have also fired rockets and missiles. And drones over Israel.”
The newspaper also wrote, “The Israeli military claimed in April that, with the help of the United States and other allies, it had achieved a 99 percent interception rate against an Iranian batch of 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles. But Israel has had less success in repelling A second Iranian barrage of more than 180 ballistic missiles was launched on October 1. “The US-supplied THAAD battery, designed to shoot down ballistic missiles, will be placed alongside the Israeli Arrow system,” the Financial Times continued. It strengthens Israel’s overall air defenses as Benjamin Netanyahu’s government plans a retaliatory strike in response to Iran’s missile barrage in October. The Financial Times notes that Hezbollah has shown it can still attack “at least 60 kilometers deep inside Israel, despite… From weeks of Israeli attacks on its leaders and arsenal.”
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“We are not seeing the full capability of Hezbollah yet,” Assaf Orion, a former Israeli brigadier general and head of the IDF’s strategy department, told the Financial Times. “It was only launching about a tenth of its estimated launch capacity before the war, that is, a few hundred rockets a day.” . Instead of 2000.”
Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on October 15, 2024.
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2024.