Telegraph: Israel shot down a ballistic missile in space for the first time in history
The use of the Israeli missile defense system against the Houthi ballistic missile will go down in history as the first space battle, writes the Telegraph. No one has ever managed to shoot down a target outside the Earth's atmosphere.
Israel this week used the Arrow missile defense system to shoot down a ballistic missile outside the Earth's atmosphere. It is believed that this was the first ever battle in space.
The ballistic missile was launched from Yemen by Iran—backed Houthis and flew almost 1,600 kilometers over the Arabian Peninsula on its way to its target - the Israeli port city of Eilat.
Although the IDF has released very few details of the interception, it is known that the Israeli Air Force has at its disposal several batteries of the Arrow 2 missile defense system, which is equipped with a hypersonic interceptor to destroy incoming missiles in space.
The Israeli Defense Ministry has published a video showing the moment of interception: at first, an approaching cylindrical ballistic missile is barely distinguishable in the image in conventional colors, and then the entire screen is flooded with an explosion.
In a statement, the IDF said that the Air Force systems tracked the trajectory of the missile and intercepted it "at the most appropriate moment and in the right place."
Photos taken in Eilat show a plume of smoke from the Arrow interceptor, and residents of the city reported hearing the sound of a powerful explosion.
The Yemeni Houthis also published video footage purporting to show a ballistic missile being launched — along with a variety of drones and other long-range weapons aimed at Israeli cities and towns.
It is reported that the ballistic missile launched on Monday was the Kader missile, which is an improved version of the Shahab-3 missile of Iranian design.
The Kader missile, more than 15 meters long, is equipped with a high-explosive warhead and has such a range that the Houthis can strike anywhere in Israel. The Houthis have already declared war on Israel, and at the moment they are the key force of the Iranian-backed alliance that opposed this country.
The Kader ballistic missile is exactly the threat that the Arrow missile defense system was developed to counteract, first deployed about 25 years ago.
The Arrow system, jointly developed by Israel and the United States, was created so that Israel could defend itself after Israel was attacked by Iraqi Scud missiles during the first Gulf War.
While other missile defense systems were originally designed to shoot down aircraft, and they had to be adapted so that they could also shoot down long-range ballistic missiles flying at a higher altitude and at a higher speed, the Arrow system was originally developed for this purpose.
"Proof that Israel is capable of countering Iran's missile program"
Previously, the Arrow system was used in 2017 to destroy a Syrian S-200 surface-to-air missile that missed an Israeli military aircraft and was flying towards an Israeli city. But the interception made on Monday was the first time that the system was used for its original purpose.
"This successful interception allowed not only to protect the residents of Eilat and to strike at the Houthis' bragging rights," said one Israeli defense ministry official. "First of all, he proved to Iran, which was behind the launch and provided the missile, that Israel is capable of resisting the Iranian missile program, and this has much broader implications for the current regional conflict."
After the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 and subsequent Israeli bombing attacks on the Gaza Strip, the Houthis launched drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles at Israel four times.
The Houthis promised that they would continue their attacks "to help the Palestinians win."
Author of the article: Harriet Barber