THAAD System Deployed: U.S. Assists Israel with First Official Use
A military reporter for Israel’s Channel 11 released a video showing the activation of the American THAAD system to intercept a Yemeni missile over the occupied territories during Friday morning’s Yemeni attack on Tel Aviv.
In mid-October, the United States deployed two or three THAAD anti-ballistic missile system batteries, along with about 100 American military personnel, in the occupied territories. Initially, the THAAD system was deployed to counter potential Iranian retaliatory attacks on sensitive Israeli sites. However, it seems that following the failure of the Israeli Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 anti-ballistic missile systems to counter Yemeni hypersonic missiles, the THAAD system was brought in to assist.
According to Israeli sources, this marks the first activation of the THAAD system since its deployment in occupied Palestine. In the video, American military personnel excitedly exclaimed, “18 years waiting for this!”
But how effective is THAAD really?
In short, against one or two ballistic missiles, the THAAD system is quite effective. However, it struggles against a large number of incoming missiles.
Each THAAD system battery has 6 launchers, each with 8 missiles, totaling 48 missiles per battery. The United States has 7 THAAD batteries, which are strategically important for defending sensitive American locations. Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of THAAD, has produced and delivered about 800 THAAD missiles to the US Army. Of these, 336 are needed for the 7 American batteries, with the remainder in reserve.
Given this information, it’s clear why the US has provided Israel with two to three batteries of the THAAD system. The production of THAAD systems and missiles is limited, and the United States cannot supply all the THAADs and missiles it needs to Israel.
If Israel has three THAAD batteries, that means 144 interceptor missiles are ready for use, supplemented by a small portion of the US THAAD missile reserves.
The primary purpose of deploying these systems in Israel is to counter Iranian attacks. However, the system can easily become overwhelmed by a large volume of missiles, such as 200 in a single operational mission, significantly reducing its defensive capabilities. The key to the success of Yemeni attacks, similar to Iran’s approach, lies in effectively saturating these systems. The more hypersonic missiles are fired, the higher the success rate of Yemeni operations!
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