Israel's defense against Iranian missiles: how it works and what it costs

To defend against Iran's attack, Israel likely used a combination of its costly aerial defense systems.

After Iran launched its missile attack on Israel this Tuesday, there were videos trending on X showing missiles hitting Tel Aviv and the ground on Israel. However, it remains unclear whether all of these videos were authentic.

Some users were quick to claim that Israel's praised defense system, Iron Dome, had failed. Others speculated that Israel may have allowed missiles to land on its ground on purpose to have a precedent for striking back at Iran.

Though in this particular case, it appears that Israel may have not relied on the Iron Dome.

What missile did Iran use?

Reports say that Iran fired around 180 ballistic missiles into Israel's territory.

Ballistic missiles are powered by rockets that follow a high trajectory. The initial phase is propelled by engines while the remaining flight is unpowered coasting through space or the atmosphere.

Israel claims that it, with the help of the US and the UK, shot down most of Iran's missiles, though some damage may have been inflicted on Israel's side. A BBC journalist in Lebanon says that missiles may have hit Israel military bases as well as a restaurant and school.

Meanwhile, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed that 90 percent of their missiles hit their targets, including three military bases.

What missiles were used by Iran is not yet clear, though based on videos, experts told CNN that Iran has probably fired Shahab-3. These are medium-range missiles capable of flying around 500-600 hundred miles.

There were some reports in Iranian media claiming that Iran may have also deployed its hypersonic Fattah-1 missiles.

How do Israel’s defense systems work?

The most well-known of Israel's aerial defense systems is the Iron Dome, created by the local companies Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries. On its website, Rafael claims that Iron Dome has intercepted over 5,000 rockets with a success rate of over 90%.

The Iron Dome has helped to repel many attacks by Hamas over the years. However, this time it appears that Israel relied on other defense mechanisms, as the Iron Dome is used only for short-range missiles, and has a range of up to 43 miles.

One of these is David's Sling, which has a range of 25 to 190 miles and is designed to intercept medium-range threats.

For longer-range missiles, Israel uses Arrow 2 and Arrow 3, which operate outside the atmosphere. For example, Arrow 3 is believed to have a range of over 1500 miles.

All of these systems consist of missile defense batteries equipped with missile launchers and radars capable of detecting missiles and other threats, such as drones, planes, and other projectiles.

After a missile is detected, AI-powered algorithms help to determine its trajectory, and interceptor missiles are fired from missile launchers to destroy them.

Iron Dome may also allow short-range threats to hit its ground if it determines that the missile is heading towards an unpopulated area, thus saving on costly interceptor missiles.

How much does it cost to take down a missile?

While estimates show that making one missile for Iran can cost around $100,000 or more, the cost of taking down those threats is believed to be much higher.

Reem Aminoach, a former brigadier general and chief financial adviser to the head of the Israeli military, previously told Bloomberg that repelling the previous Iranian attack in April may have cost $1.1 billion. At that time, Iran fired more than 120 missiles, around 170 drones, and 30 cruise missiles.

A significant portion of the cost of repelling such an attack is spent on interceptor missiles.

The cost of one David's Sling missile is estimated to be around $1 million, while some say firing an Arrow may be around $2 million.

According to the Guardian, a former financial adviser to the IDF chief of staff said that an Arrow missile typically costs $3.5m (£2.8m) a time.

Considering that Israel relied on Arrow, the cost of interceptor missiles alone could have amounted to at least a few hundreds millions of dollars.