Missile Defense System: How Israel’s ‘Arrow’ trumps Iron Dome defence system

Israel’s Arrow missile defense system reportedly shot down a ballistic missile fired by Iran’s proxies in Yemen on Tuesday, Jerusalem post reported.
The Arrow system, developed by Israel Aerospace Industries in collaboration with the Israeli and US defense establishments “demonstrated today that Israel possesses the most advanced technology for defense against ballistic missiles at various ranges,” said IAI CEO and President Boaz Levy.
However, this was not the first instance of the Arrow missile defense system intercepting a missile. In 2017, it shot down a Syrian surface-to-air missile that missed Israeli aircraft and sailed into Israeli airspace.
Jerusalem post quoted UziRubin , “the father of the Arrow,” and a fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Security and Strategy as pointing out that the ballistic missile from Yemen was a much more difficult target and was the quality of target for which the Arrow was produced.
Rubin, who is affiliated with the Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, suggested that the utilization of the Arrow missile defense system in 2017, was unconventional and unproven against more advanced threats, such as ballistic missiles.
Rubin argued that Israel can now demonstrate its fully operational missile defense capabilities against ballistic missiles, which could have implications for its regional posture, particularly in relation to Iran.
In 2022, then-US CENTCOM chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie stated that Iran possessed over 3,000 ballistic missiles, not including its growing arsenal of cruise missiles.
Rubin, according to Jerusalem post pointed out that Hamas had occasionally outdone the Iron Dome with sheer numbers, and he raised the possibility that Iran and its proxies, if they chose to do so, could employ a similar strategy against the Arrow missile defense system.