How Iran Is Breaking the World's Most Advanced Air Defense Systems

Al Jazeera Explainer:

How Iran Is Breaking the World's Most Advanced Air Defense Systems

International Desk, Rtv News

Publish : 19 Jun 2025, 08:27 PM

Israeli air defense systems intercept Iranian missiles over Tel Aviv amid a fresh barrage of Iranian rockets on June 16, 2025. Photo: AFP via Getty Images

Following Israel's airstrikes in Iran last Friday, Tehran retaliated by launching hundreds of missiles and drones. Some of these ballistic missiles penetrated Israel's advanced air defense system, striking important targets.

Israel's continuous attacks on Iran have so far killed over 240 people, including 70 women and children. In response, Iran launched nearly 400 missiles and several hundred drones, resulting in at least 24 deaths and hundreds injured in Israel. Israelis across the country were forced to seek shelter.

Some of Iran's attacks hit residential areas in central Israel, causing extensive damage. Even the well-protected Israeli military headquarters, Kirya, in Tel Aviv was struck, though the damage there was limited.

On Tuesday, Iran claimed they hit Israeli military intelligence centers and a planning center for the foreign intelligence agency Mossad. They asserted that this demonstrated their ability to penetrate Israel's most advanced and globally sophisticated air defense system.

Recent history shows that Israel has successfully thwarted most missile attacks on its territory using its air defense systems, such as the Iron Dome.

So, how are Iranian missiles penetrating Israel's air defense? Let's find out.

What is Iron Dome?
At the heart of Israel's air defense system is the Iron Dome. However, Al Jazeera's defense analyst Alex Gatopoulos states that it is merely the lowest layer of a larger, multi-layered, and integrated defense system.

The Iron Dome identifies, tracks, and destroys incoming rockets or missiles. Israel claims the system is 90% successful. Israel activated this system in 2011, learning from its experience in the 2006 conflict with the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. The Iron Dome defense system was developed to counter Hezbollah's rocket attacks.

Gatopoulos explains that the Iron Dome is designed to stop low-altitude rockets that are not detected by larger defense systems.

Additionally, Israel possesses the Barak-8, David's Sling, and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems, which can counter rockets and missiles of various ranges. The Barak-8 surface-to-air missile system is medium-range, while THAAD intercepts short, medium, and long-range ballistic missiles. David's Sling can defend against medium to long-range missiles.

Israel's Defense Against Iranian Missiles
To counter long-range ballistic missiles, Israel uses the Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 systems, as Tel Aviv is currently doing to intercept Tehran's missiles in the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict. These missile defense systems were developed by Israel's state-owned "Israel Aerospace Industries," in collaboration with the American company Boeing.

The Arrow-2 system can stop missiles both within and outside the Earth's atmosphere at certain altitudes.

Israel also employs "air-to-air" defense systems. In this system, incoming drones or missiles are destroyed from the air by fighter jets and helicopters.

How Air Defense Systems Work
Israel's air defense system primarily consists of three parts: a radar system, a command center, and launchers equipped with interceptor missiles.

Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher at King's College London, told Al Jazeera that when enemy missiles approach, the radar first detects them, and then an alert is sent to the command center. This center evaluates which missiles to destroy. Subsequently, launchers typically fire two interceptor missiles to stop an incoming missile.

However, like all defense systems, Israel's system has a limited number of interceptor missiles. The exact number of interceptor missiles in Israel's air defense system remains unknown.

Has Iran Really Penetrated Israel's Defense?
Last Saturday, an Israeli military official stated that their defense system was 80 to 90% successful, but no system achieves 100% success. This implies that some Iranian missiles were indeed able to penetrate Israel's defenses.

So, how did Iran succeed? While not entirely certain, experts suggest several possible ways Iranian drones and missiles may have breached Israel's defense.

The most common tactic in such cases is to overwhelm Israel's interceptor missiles by sending an excessive number of drones and missiles.

Miron stated, "If interceptors run out, then a larger number of missiles cannot be prevented." She also noted that no system can block 100% of missile attacks.

Hypersonic Missiles
Al Jazeera analyst Gatopoulos said that Iran now possesses hypersonic missiles, which are a direct result of continuously improving and maturing ballistic missile defense systems. This is because one way to evade an air defense system is to use missiles that fly at extremely high speeds, giving the defense system very little time to react.

Miron stated that even if hypersonic missiles are detected by radar, they are difficult to intercept.

Some hypersonic missiles are equipped with Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGVs). This is a warhead that can fly at more than five times the speed of sound and change direction. Iran's 'Fattah-2' missile uses an HGV. Gatopoulos explained, "(Hypersonic missiles) look like a conventional missile with a flying vehicle attached to the very end."

This defense analyst elaborated that HGVs not only travel at high speeds but also make sudden directional changes, weave erratically, and do not follow predictable paths like conventional ballistic missiles. This rapid and irregular movement allows them to evade air defense systems, which primarily build defenses by predicting missile trajectories.

Cruise Missiles
"Cruise missiles can also change their trajectory and become difficult to intercept," said Miron.

Iran's arsenal includes various types of cruise missiles, including the Hoveyzeh. Iran has also used such missiles in its attacks against Israel. These fly at lower altitudes and slower speeds than ballistic missiles, much like uncrewed aerial vehicles. This makes them difficult to detect on radar.

How Air Defense Systems Can Be Further Challenged
Marina Miron, a researcher at King's College London, stated that another tactic to bypass air defense systems is to overwhelm them by sending objects that look like drones or missiles, or by using decoys, thereby disrupting the defense system.

Miron explained, "These objects are detected as threats by radar, but in reality, they are not sent for attack. Typically, such objects are used to deplete the stock of interceptor missiles, so that real missiles and drones can later reach their targets unhindered."

Miron added that some missiles are also equipped with radar-evading technology, allowing them to evade the defense system's scrutiny.

Could Iran or Israel Run Out of Missiles?
Defense analyst Gatopoulos stated that the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel has now largely become a war of attrition.

On Monday, Israel claimed to have established air superiority over Iranian airspace. However, Gatopoulos pointed out that the minimum distance between Iran and Israel is 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). He said, "This distance is very large for Israeli fighter jets, especially if they have to go without refueling."

The analyst further explained, "They (Israeli fighter jets) can enter enemy airspace, but only for a limited time." He clarified that while the United States could assist Israel with aerial refueling, adding external tanks to fighter jets reduces their stealth capabilities.

"This raises the question of how many missiles Iran actually has to continue fighting in this prolonged conflict. And how many interceptor missiles (especially Arrow-2 and Arrow-3) Israel has that they can continuously use," said Gatopoulos.
(Source: Al Jazeera)

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