Off the wire
• Policy makers promote advantages to participate in Belt and Road construction  • Four-nation group terms negotiations only option for political settlement  • HMD licensed to produce Nokia branded products  • (Sports) Badminton athletes from 15 countries to take part in Vietnam tournament  • 24 killed in Afghan flooding  • Israeli PM forms negotiation teams to enlist nationalist right-wing party into gov't  • Taiwan parties, groups rally for adherence to 1992 Consensus  • German constitutional court to rule on ECB bond-buying program in June  • Portugal celebrates International Museum Day with free neighborhood tours  • Norway awards 10 new drilling licenses in Barents Sea  
You are here: 　 Home

Israel successfully tests sea-borne "Iron Dome" anti-missile system

Xinhua, May 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Israeli navy has successfully tested a sea-borne Iron Dome anti-missile weapon system, the Israeli army said on Wednesday.

The system can be installed on navy vessels to intercept short-range missile threats to economic assets at sea, such as natural gas platforms in the Mediterranean Sea.

The test was conducted several weeks ago, with a few rockets being fired from onshore and intercepted successfully by the system, known as Tamir-Adir, according to the Israeli military.

Col. Ariel Shir, head of the Navy's operational systems, said the rockets were detected by Tamir-Adir's radar system and successfully intercepted.

He was also quoted as saying that the system is able to intercept ballistic threats while the naval vessels are moving at high speeds.

This system echoes the land-based "Iron Dome" anti-missile batteries, which played an important role in intercepting missiles fired from the Gaza Strip enclave towards Israeli communities during the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas.

According to the Israeli army, out of 4,954 rockets and mortars fired from the Gaza Strip enclave during the 50-day war, Iron Dome batteries failed to intercept only 70 rockets. Endit