On 6 May 1985, Israel and the United States signed an MoU on the development of a missile defence system against long-range threats, which is the genesis of Tel Aviv’s air defence umbrella.
New Delhi: On Saturday evening, Iran launched a barrage of kamikaze drones, cruise and ballistic missiles on Israel, an attack that lasted for five hours.
While such an onslaught of over 300 munitions would have been impossible to counter, the Israel military announced Sunday that “99 percent” of projectiles fired by Iran were intercepted by it and its partners, with only “a small number” of ballistic missiles reaching Israel. In total, around 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and over 120 ballistic missiles were launched at Israel by Iran.
Countries like the US, the UK, Jordan and even Saudi Arabia helped in destroying several of the drones and some cruise missiles, but the bulk of the counter-offensive role was carried out by Israel’s multi-tiered air defence system.
Israel’s air defence is an eight-tier system that is integrated with one goal — to defend the country from attacks. India, too, has a similar multi-layered structure, but unlike Israel, which is spread over roughly 21,671 sq km, India’s total area is 32,87,263 sq km, from the snow-covered Himalayas to the tropical south. Moreover, unlike Israel, India’s critical defence and economic targets are spread out and there is no one system that can protect it all.
Also, India’s air defence system is primarily aimed at either protecting important cities as a whole or individual bases of the three services, which use a variety of systems for short- and medium-range defence.
The only operational long-distance air defence system that India operates is the S-400 Triumf bought from the Russians and that, too, aimed at countering attacks coming in either from Pakistan or China in the northern and eastern sector. The overall umbrella set-up that is being worked upon is the indigenous ballistic missile defence shield, which is currently in the second phase of development.
In contrast, Israel has an integrated air defence system. Israel’s Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) is a division within the Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D), at Israel’s Ministry of Defense which is responsible for the development, management and improvement of the country’s active defence systems. These include interceptors, launchers, radars, command and control systems, network connectivity and more.
On 6 May 1985, Israel and the United States signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the development of a missile defence system against long-range threats. Many of IMDO’s programmes are carried out in close collaboration with the United States Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and receive joint funding.
Private defence industries from both sides also work together to create the full spectrum of air defence.
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