Israel deploys a layered air and missile defense architecture built to counter a wide variety of air and missile threats emanating from state and non-state regional adversaries. This threat spectrum includes rockets, mortars, drones, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles. Reflecting this diverse set of threats, Israel today deploys a tiered missile defense architecture. Iron Dome...
International missile defense cooperation has led some countries to jointly produce missile defenses. These projects require close partnerships and mission alignment, but when successful, can produce defenses designed to satisfy multinational security concerns.
Interceptors are a key component in any missile defense system, supported by associated command and control and sensor systems to find, fix, and destroy incoming missiles. They come in a variety of sizes, from the anti-rocket Tamir that equips Israel’s Iron Dome to the silo-based, anti-ICBM GBIs that equip the U.S. Ground-based Midcourse Defense system....
While the air defense mission traditionally emphasized defense against aircraft, the distinction between air and missile defense has blurred as states field new varieties of cruise missiles, loitering munitions, and hypersonic weapons. Capable of maneuvering within the atmosphere, these missiles present a categorically different challenge from ballistic missiles and require distinct systems to detect and...
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) is a transportable system that intercepts ballistic missiles during their final, or terminal, phase of flight. It incorporates an X-band radar, the AN/TPY-2, and a single-stage, hit-to-kill interceptor to defeat ballistic missiles inside or outside of the atmosphere. THAAD occupies a middle tier in the United States’ Ballistic Missile Defense...
Even the most sophisticated missile defense interceptors cannot complete their mission effectively without the ability to see their target. While sensors and command and control often get short shrift in discussions of missile defense in favor of interceptor improvements, upgrading the sensor architecture offers another effective means to improve the overall function of the BMDS....
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union invested heavily in its air defense systems. As a result, Russia now possesses some of the most advanced air and missile defense systems in the world. Russian air defense systems are also highly proliferated and are currently in use by dozens of nations around the world. Furthermore, many...
The MIM-104 Patriot is the U.S. Army’s primary air and missile defense system. While initially designed as an antiaircraft system, newer variants of Patriot are capable of engaging ballistic and cruise missiles, loitering munitions, and aircraft. A typical Patriot battery includes a radar set, engagement control station, power generation and other support vehicles, and several...
The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) is the United States’ homeland missile defense system, designed to protect all 50 states from a limited long-range ballistic missile attack. A global system, GMD and its associated elements span 15 time zones. These elements include Ground-based Interceptors (GBIs) at two locations: Ft. Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg AFB, CA. GMD integrates...
