An Iron Dome battery near Ashkelon. File photo by Israel Defense Forces, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
2011Technology
In April 2011 Iron Dome intercepts its first rocket, a Grad fired from Gaza toward Ashkelon.
Israel began developing the system in 2007 and finished its final tests in 2010.
The story in numbers.
70 km
range at which it can engage targets, up to
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20
the maximum number of interceptors in one launcher
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1,500
targets intercepted from 2011 to April 2016, at least
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10
operational batteries by May 2021
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Here is how it happened.
2007 to 2010
Israel develops Iron Dome from 2007 and finishes its final tests in 2010.
The first units are deployed in 2011.
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April 2011
Batteries go up in Beersheba and Ashkelon earlier than planned.
A battery is set up in Ashkelon on a Monday, brought forward because of a rise in violence in the south. Another had been set up earlier in Beersheba.
SourceYnetnews
An Iron Dome launcher near Sderot, June 2011. File photo by NatanFlayer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
April 2011
An interceptor hits a Grad rocket fired from Gaza toward Ashkelon.
An army official says two interceptors were fired at the rocket and the first one hit it. Witnesses see the rocket explode in mid-air.
SourceYnetnews
An Iron Dome launcher on a truck at the Paris Air Show, 2013. File photo by Tangopaso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
How it works
A battery combines a radar, a command system and launchers.
A battery has 3 to 4 launchers, a battle management system and a fire control radar. The Tamir interceptor is 3 metres long and weighs 90 kg at launch.
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2020 and 2021
In 2020 Rafael and Raytheon form a joint venture to make Iron Dome interceptors in the United States.
By May 2021, Israel has 10 operational batteries.
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1 of 5
More pictures from this story.
A visit to an Iron Dome battery in southern Israel, August 2011. File photo by U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
A visit to an Iron Dome battery in southern Israel, August 2011
Here is why it matters.
Its radar and software tell apart rockets that threaten population areas from those that will fall in open terrain, which saves interceptors. By May 2021 Israel had 10 operational batteries.
Three more milestones to read next.
1988
Israel launches its first satellite, Ofek-1.
Read the story
A full-scale model of Beresheet in Habima Square, Tel Aviv. File photo by TaBaZzz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
2019
Beresheet, Israel's first Moon mission, reaches lunar orbit but is lost in landing.
Read the story
WEIZAC at the Weizmann Institute. File photo by Yuval Madar, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.
1954
WEIZAC, Israel's first computer, starts running.
Read the story
Where each fact was read.
Sources read on 1 November 2026.