"The Israeli Iron Dome is not enough for the sky of Ukraine"

Colonel of the General Staff Khodarenok told why the "Iron Dome" will not help Kiev

The Ukrainian leadership is asking Israel for military assistance. In particular, about the supply of the Iron Dome complexes. Military observer of the Newspaper.En" Mikhail Khodarenok figured out how real such deliveries are.

At this stage of the special military operation, Ukraine most of all needs means of protection against sea- and air-based cruise missiles, as well as tactical ballistic missiles.

In this regard, the military-political leadership of Ukraine has recently repeatedly stated its desire to acquire the Israeli tactical missile defense system "Iron Dome" (Iron Dome). It was developed by the Israeli company Rafael. One Iron Dome battery can protect an area of 150 sq. km. Rafael reports that the Iron Dome system can shoot down missiles at an altitude of up to 10 km. In the future, the firing range of the Iron Dome is expected to increase to 250 km.

However, the Israel Defense Forces currently have no free systems. All previously manufactured Iron Dome perform combat missions to cover the skies of Israel. Even if a political decision is made to supply the Iron Dome to Ukraine (and this possibility is not officially considered yet), it will take a very long time before this order is fulfilled by the Israeli defense industry, Ukrainian calculations will be retrained, the system will arrive in Ukraine.

In addition, a lot of complexes will be required and the "Iron Dome" is simply not enough for the sky of Ukraine - taking into account the scale of the country. Finally,

Potentially, the supply of various kinds of unmanned aerial vehicles to Ukraine looks much more realistic, and Israel is one of the undisputed leaders in the field of UAV development.

In particular, Kiev is interested in such a device as Harpy ("Harpy"). This UAV is primarily designed to combat radar stations. Harpy was developed by Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) and created according to the "flying wing" scheme. The maximum speed of the device is 250 km/ h, and the range is 400 km. The duration of the flight is three hours.

Even more interesting for the armed forces of Ukraine is the Harop type barrage ammunition. The device was developed in the design bureau of the MABAT plant, which is also one of the divisions of the IAI concern.

This UAV was created taking into account the experience of operating the Harpy attack drone. It is equipped with a radar and a high-resolution digital camera. Harop is able to patrol a given area for a long time and destroy ground targets. The device is launched from a container-type mobile launcher. The UAV's flight range reaches 1000 km, and the barrage time reaches 6 hours. The Harop UAV proved itself well during the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Information about possible supplies of weapons, military and special equipment to Ukraine from Israel is currently frankly contradictory.

If in Kiev some high-ranking officials and the media talk about negotiations on this topic, then in Israel itself officials remain silent.

At the same time, the Israeli newspaper The Times of Israel, citing sources in the country's government, reported that

According to the publication, this list may include some UAVs in export performance with degraded characteristics, and the supply of more serious weapons is not being discussed at this stage.

The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.

Biography of the author:

Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for the newspaper.Ru", retired colonel.

Columnist of "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Military-Industrial Courier" (2010-2015).

Mikhail Khodarenok