[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:

Why do we have the Iron Dome?
Option #1. To shield Israeli civilian targets from rocket attack.
Option #2. To shield Israeli policy makers from the imperative of addressing
the growing rocket threat from Gaza and south Lebanon.

Option #1 requires a tremendous budget. And since the huge natural gas
royalties and taxes Israel expects to earn from the offshore discoveries
can't be banked on, we really aren't in a position to buy enough units to
provide protection and instead would find ourselves, when deploying at "X"
with the people and politicians associated with "Y" and "Z" etc.
complaining.

Option #2 fits the bill. The technology works. And since the technology
works the policy makers can indefinitely postpone military action to wipe
out the ever growing number of rockets in Gaza and south Lebanon. And
thanks to our collective attention spans of minutes and our collective
planning horizons of days the fact that we haven't actually taken action
that effectively addresses the challenge is irrelevant. That is, of course,
until the rockets start to really fly. That's when we can have another
committee to investigate the failure.]

IDF decides to store, not deploy, Iron Dome system
By YAAKOV KATZ The Jerusalem Post 11/08/2010 06:50
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=194423

Anti-rocket defense system will be located in center of country, will be
deployed only in cases of extreme rocket fire from Gaza or south Lebanon.

After months of deliberations, the IDF has decided to store the Iron Dome
anti-rocket system at an air force base in the center of the country and to
deploy it only in cases of extreme rocket fire from either the Gaza Strip or
southern Lebanon, senior military sources said on Sunday.

The decision was made ahead of the planned announcement that Iron Dome had
reached “initial operational capability,” initially scheduled for this
month.

On Sunday, top IDF officers told The Jerusalem Post that the initial
operational capability would be postponed until the first quarter of 2011.
The delay, the officers stressed, was not due to technical malfunctions but
rather to the intricate process of training IDF officers and soldiers to use
the complicated weapons system.

“This system is unbelievable,” one officer said. “It is, however, sometimes
a complicated process to take in such a system and to turn it operational
and into a fully functioning weapons system.”

Last month, Iron Dome, developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, was
delivered to the IAF, which has designated the Hatzor air base near Gedera
as the headquarters for the new system, which was designed to counter
incoming rockets at a range of four to 70 kilometers.

Each battery consists of a multimission radar manufactured by Israel
Aerospace Industries and three launchers, each with 20 interceptors capable
of protecting a vast stretch of land.

The system passed a series of tests in July, when it successfully
intercepted a number of 122 mm. Grad-type Katyusha rockets.

The IDF has already identified positions along the borders with the Gaza
Strip and Lebanon that can be used by the system, which includes a launcher,
radar and command post.

“The idea is to have a number of locations throughout the country where we
will be able to deploy the system – basically to plug it in and have it up
and working in real time,” a defense official said.