The Tactics Behind Trump’s Bombing of Iran’s Nuclear Facilities _ WSJ

Transcript

00:00Aerosystems and David's Sling have been key.

00:03Even though some missiles have slipped through,

00:05Israel's layered defense has proven to be extremely effective.

00:09Israel says its interception rate for ballistic missiles is about 90 percent.

00:13And of the 370 missiles fired by Iran in recent days,

00:16about 30 have made an impact as of June 17th.

00:20But as Tom Carrico, the director of the Missile Defense Project at CSIS,

00:23put it to me,

00:24the capability is not the question, it's the capacity that matters.

00:30And capacity could be a huge problem,

00:32because arrows play a key role in shooting down not just Iran's ballistic missiles,

00:36but also threats from Iranian proxy groups like the Houthis in Yemen.

00:41In a statement, the Israeli Defense Forces said,

00:43the IDF is prepared and ready to handle any scenario.

00:47Unfortunately, we are unable to comment on matters related to munitions.

00:51Israel doesn't talk about how many interceptors it has,

00:53because if its enemies knew that number,

00:55they would know how many missiles to fire at the country.

01:00The company that makes the Aero Interceptors, IAI,

01:04did not respond to requests for comment.

01:06Back in December, Israel's defense ministry struck a deal with IAI

01:09to make more Aero 3 interceptors.

01:12However, the Aeros are complex missiles that cost more than $2 million a piece

01:16and take time to produce.

01:18Analysts say, in general,

01:19defensive weapons are harder and more expensive to make than offensive weapons

01:23because they have to be more sophisticated and more precise

01:26than the missiles they're designed to take out.

01:29Plus, in some cases, you have to fire several interceptors

01:32in order to neutralize a missile.