"Saving $2.3 Million Led to 200 Injuries"... Israel's David's Sling Fails Catastrophically [US-Iran War]

Interceptor System Failure Exposes Weaknesses
Over 200 Injured in Aftermath

Israel's medium-range air defense system, David's Sling, malfunctioned and failed to intercept Iran's ballistic missiles.

Israeli security forces are investigating the missile strike site in Dimona, a city in southern Israel that was attacked by Iran on the 22nd (local time). Dimona, Israel=AP Yonhap News Photo

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) officially acknowledged on the 23rd that it failed to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles that struck the southern cities of Dimona and Arad on the night of the 21st (local time).

On that day, the Israeli military used David's Sling, a medium-range defense system, instead of the long-range Arrow-3. According to the Air Force, David's Sling detected the incoming missile and launched an interceptor, but due to a system error, ultimately failed to destroy the target. While each Arrow-3 interceptor costs about 2.5 million dollars (approximately 3.7 billion won), David's Sling costs around 1 million dollars per missile.

David's Sling demonstrated its performance in June 2023 by intercepting a missile launched from approximately 1,500 kilometers away during the war, and last month it also completed an upgraded test to address 'future threats.' However, this recent incident has exposed vulnerabilities in the system.

The failure to intercept the missiles resulted in about 200 people being injured in the two regions and caused extensive damage to buildings. Experts criticized Israel for choosing the medium-range system over the high-performance long-range defense network in order to save costs, which they say led to the disaster.

The ballistic missiles launched by Iran at the time were identified as the Ghadr series, each carrying several hundred kilograms of explosives.

Since the outbreak of war, Iran has launched more than 400 ballistic missiles toward Israeli territory, and the Israeli military stated it has intercepted about 92% of them.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.