Israel has a new American-made tool for its defense. This Monday, October 21, while he is expected in Ukraine, American Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that the THAAD system, for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, is now “in place” in Israel. Without saying whether the device transported over the past week by around twenty C-17 cargo planes was operational, Austin nevertheless clarified: “We have the capacity to put it into service very quickly and we are in line with our expectations.” Promised on October 13 by Joe Biden, the deployment of THAAD aims to help perfect the protection of the Jewish state and strengthen its other anti-aircraft defense system, the Iron Dome. Liberation takes stock of this new defense weapon which strengthens the IDF arsenal.
A missile that carries no warhead
It is a weapon that must be thought of as a shield. Designed by the company in the American state of Maryland, Lockheed Martin, the world’s leading arms producer in 2023, this antiballistic missile system, considered easy to move, has been in service since 2008 within the American army. Its role is to destroy missiles, ballistic or not, at short and medium range. According to CNN, this system, which uses a combination of radars and interceptors, is the only one capable of shooting down ballistic missiles inside but also outside the atmosphere, whether during their flight phase. or when diving on their target.
THAAD is effective within a radius of 200 km and up to an altitude of 150 km. On its website, the Lockheed Martin company is pleased with a 100% success rate for THAAD on mission and during test phases. Unlike other systems of this type, THAAD interceptors operate on the “hit-to-kill” model based on the kinetic energy of the missile (the energy that a body possesses due to its movement) and therefore do not include any warhead. Concretely, the THAAD missile collides with the target to destroy it rather than exploding near the threat.
According to a report released in April by the US Congressional Research Service, the US military has seven THAAD batteries. Typically, each of them includes six truck-mounted launchers, 48 interceptors, radio and radar equipment. Each battery requires an average of 95 soldiers to operate. It is one of these batteries that is currently mobilized in Israel.
The reinforced iron dome
Through an extensive command, control and combat management system, THAAD batteries can communicate with a wide range of US missile defenses, including Aegis systems – found aboard US Navy ships – and Patriot missile defense systems designed to intercept shorter-range targets. Note that THAAD missiles cover a larger area than Patriot missiles but smaller than that of the Aegis.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank specializing in geopolitics, these air defense tools are in addition to the Israeli Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems developed in collaboration with the United States. The Arrow 2 missile uses fragmentation warheads to destroy incoming ballistic missiles in their terminal phase, when they dive toward the target but are still in the upper atmosphere. In the same way as the THAAD, the Arrow 3 is based on “hit-to-kill” technology. To intercept projectiles flying at lower altitudes, the iron dome has around ten batteries which each carry three to four easily maneuverable missile launchers.
A system already sent to Israel in 2019
This is not the first time that a THAAD battery has been sent to Israel. Already in 2019, a system of this type was deployed for training sessions. Washington dispatched another to the region the day after the October 7 attack to protect American forces.
In January 2022, THAAD conducted its first operational interception in a combat environment: a UAE-operated battery successfully intercepted a ballistic missile launched by Houthi rebels in Yemen. Several THAAD batteries are mobilized in sensitive areas outside the continental United States, notably in South Korea and Guam. In the Pacific Ocean, THAAD was deployed to protect American military bases against threats of ballistic missile launches from North Korea and China.
