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Iron Dome in action

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 6:51 pm
by DeltaV
Congratulations to the very capable Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd (Israel) engineers!
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5naw3u7rhnnm ... G_2944.MOV

[EDIT--]
Correction:
Development, design, testing and manufacturing was led by Rafael. Raytheon is only involved in marketing Iron Dome in the US.
http://raytheon.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=1892
Think I had that confused with David's Sling .
[--EDIT]

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:15 pm
by Stubby
I would say gj but the jerusalem post says only 30 of 120 were intercepted.

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:24 pm
by ladajo
Did the leakers land anywhere that mattered?
As I know, only 4 of the 1500 or so hit anything that mattered.
That says to me the the Iron Dome system was deployed to cover what matters, and that the Fajr-5 is also piece of crap for accuracy.
What a wonderful weapon to use. Randomly shoot it at population centers with no regard for what is hit, other than hoping for maximum civilian deaths.
And this is right how?

Posted: Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:26 pm
by ladajo
At least now Hamas openly admits that Iran is arming them. And for that matter so does Iran. Idiots.

Standby for heavy rolls as the ship comes about.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 3:07 am
by palladin9479
Stubby wrote:I would say gj but the jerusalem post says only 30 of 120 were intercepted.
The system itself has a 70~80% hit rate of targeted projectiles. When a projectile (rocket usually) is detected the system will track it and predict it's trajectory and impact location. If that location isn't in a populated area then the IDF will ignore it, if it's a populated area or otherwise a danger then the system will engage and launch an interceptor. The ~20% miss rate comes from the short distances the rockets are fired, there might not be enough time to determine a proper trajectory / impact location before an interceptor needs to be launched.

Hamas is firing Iranian rockets that have been removed from their launch tubes and fitted onto portable home built tubes. There are no guidance systems for aiming / targeting, it's just Hamas using Kentucky wind-age while pointing it the general direction of populated areas. A single rocket isn't much of a threat but if you launch enough of that then you'll bound to hit a population center. And thus ID was created.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:04 am
by choff
ladajo wrote:Did the leakers land anywhere that mattered?
As I know, only 4 of the 1500 or so hit anything that mattered.
That says to me the the Iron Dome system was deployed to cover what matters, and that the Fajr-5 is also piece of crap for accuracy.
What a wonderful weapon to use. Randomly shoot it at population centers with no regard for what is hit, other than hoping for maximum civilian deaths.
And this is right how?
To say nothing of using human shields to protect the launch sites. I've had to put up with listening to idiots claiming Israel is running a cruel prison camp in Gaza, and Hamas rockets are little more than roman candles. If they'd sat back and done nothing a lot more Israeli's would have been killed, and what choice do they have besided shelling and bombing back, except sending troops in, that would only make the detractors whine even more.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:13 am
by ladajo
A roman candle that is about 20 feet tall with 200 lbs of High Explosives in a total weight 385 lbs fragmentary warhead that can travel about 50 miles.

Not a toy by any means.

Compare this to a conventional 155mm artillery round. It has about 24 lbs of HE with a total weight of about 103 lbs.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:19 am
by choff
I'll pass that along to the jerks crying 'poor Hamas'.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 6:32 am
by ladajo
The 155mm numbers are for an M795 projectile. Its nominal ranges are about 14 miles. It can be pushed out to about 17 miles from a Paladin with a high energy charge. It also has the ability to be guided with a GPS rigged Course Correcting Fuse assembly. This gives it error control to less than 150 ft (unclass) of aimpoint.

A Hamas Fajr-5 Rocket is effectively a WWII unguided 500lb dumb iron bomb with about the same accuracy.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 2:20 pm
by Skipjack
Its nominal ranges are about 14 miles. It can be pushed out to about 17 miles from a Paladin with a high energy charge
They should get some Austrian GH N 45 cannons. Those can hit a soccer goal from 40km :)
One of the best howitzers ever made...

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:04 pm
by DeltaV
Iron Dome Repels Hamas Rockets
Current intercept probability ~85%. Planned upgrades to ~90%.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:55 pm
by Skipjack
I think the biggest problem is that they do not have enough of the interceptors to cover all the potential target areas. So yes, they do catch 85% of those rockets that they try to intercept, but some are striking where there are no iron dome installations.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:29 pm
by ladajo
Skipjack wrote:
Its nominal ranges are about 14 miles. It can be pushed out to about 17 miles from a Paladin with a high energy charge
They should get some Austrian GH N 45 cannons. Those can hit a soccer goal from 40km :)
One of the best howitzers ever made...
That is a nice gun.
We were suppossed to get Crusader, but Rumsfeld killed it. 12 rounds/minute at 50km. RAP rounds with precision guidance. CEPs well within the lethal radius. Silly accurate, and networked fires. We now have silly accurate, and network fires, so I guess we got almost what we wanted except for firing rates.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:45 pm
by Skipjack
We were suppossed to get Crusader, but Rumsfeld killed it
:(

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2012 8:08 pm
by choff
I like the M777, airportable, truck towable, none of the maintenance complications of self-propelled artillery, and accurate!