America's advanced missile shield deployed in Israel
The U.S. Department of Defense has announced deploying the THAAD anti-ballistic defense system in Israel. We explain the reasons for this deployment and outline its capabilities.
During previous Iranian missile attacks, the U.S. supported Israel with resources such as the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer equipped with SM-3 missiles. Now, a battery of the THAAD system has arrived on site.
This isn't the first time this battery has been deployed in Israel for combat operations, as it was previously deployed in the Middle East after the attacks on October 7, 2023, and in 2019 during integration exercises for American and Israeli air and missile defense.
THAAD — the anti-ballistic Patriot on steroids
THAAD stands for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, and it is a dedicated anti-ballistic system designed to intercept ballistic missiles while they are still in space. It is situated between the Patriot system, which intercepts ballistic missiles in the final phase of flight, and the GBI or future NGI anti-missiles that intercept targets farther out in space.
Introduced into service in 2008, THAAD enables the interception of ballistic objects at a range of up to 200 kilometres and an altitude of 150 kilometres. These parameters significantly exceed the Patriot system's interception range of approximately 40 kilometres.
A THAAD system battery consists of an AN/TPY-2 radar with a range of approximately 1,000 to 3,000 kilometres, depending on the radar signature of the target, a command vehicle, and typically six launchers mounted on HEMTT trucks, each housing eight missiles.
The anti-ballistic missiles are two-stage designs measuring 6 metres in length, with a diameter of about 40 centimetres, and a launch mass of 660 kilograms. The first stage is a solid-fuel booster that detaches after burnout, while the second stage is a maneuverable unit with a guidance head and its own liquid-fuel rocket engine, destroying the object through direct impact.
Guidance is provided by an electro-optical head with an infrared sensor likely capable of seeing the thermal image of the target. Lockheed Martin, the system's manufacturer, announced that by December 2023, it had delivered the 800th missile for the seven THAAD batteries currently in the US Army's inventory.
