Israel not short of missile interceptors, says chair of Rafael defense firm
Yuval Steinitz, chair of Israel’s state-owned defense firm Rafael, says the country is not facing a shortage of missile interceptors, amid reports that air defense stockpiles – particularly of long-range Arrow interceptors – have been strained by the fighting with Iran.
Israel has consistently denied claims that it is running low on interceptors.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems is the primary manufacturer of the Iron Dome missile defense system and produces some components for the Arrow system, though the Arrow interceptors themselves are manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries.
Last month, Israel approved plans to dramatically accelerate production of Arrow interceptor missiles, days before a ceasefire with Iran was announced.
Speaking today at a Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs conference, Steinitz says the Iron Dome system has been 99% effective against rockets fired by Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“Iron Dome intercepted most of them with success rates that [are] not 100% but close to 100%. It’s around 98%, even 99% — so it’s not perfect, but almost,” Steinitz says.
Steinitz also says that since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, onslaught, which sparked a multifront war, the two terror groups have launched some 40,000 rockets at Israel.
Iran, he says, has fired about 1,500 ballistic missiles at Israel in two rounds of fighting since 2024 and “only several dozens” were not intercepted.
During the latest war, 21 Israeli civilians and foreign nationals were killed in Israel in Iranian ballistic missile attacks, along with four Palestinians in the West Bank. Iranian fire during the 2024 conflict killed 32 people and wounded over 3,000 in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals.