Israel’s C-dome, missile defence system, used for first time
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has for the first time used an above-sea-level missile defence system, C-dome , to counter and shoot down a spy drone advancing from the ( east) Red Sea.
According to the military on Tuesday, the drone had set off sirens in the port city of Eilat.
Eilat has been a frequent target for launches by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen as a show of support for Hamas, the Palestinian group that rules Gaza and is also backed by Iran, Reuters reported.
Israel positioned missile boats in the Red Sea after the start of the war in Gaza, the military said. One of those missile boats shot down the drone with the new system called the C-Dome.
The Israeli military also said the drone had already made it past the Gulf Eilat,and then was intercepted by the “IDF Sa’ar 6-class corvette missile ship”.
“Overnight, for the first time ever, an IDF Sa’ar 6-class corvette missile ship successfully intercepted a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) that had approached from the east and had crossed into the area of the Gulf of Eilat,” the military said.
C-Dome, according to Israeli defence contractor Rafael, uses the same interceptors as the land-based Iron Dome that counters shorter range rockets and drones.
The missile defence system, C-Dome, supports Israel’s multi-tier air defence array opposite Arrow-3, which is designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside the earth’s atmosphere.
