Israel's 'Iron Dome' Defense System Compared to U.S. NASAMS, Patriots

Israel experienced an array of rocket attacks from Lebanon on Thursday, which appeared to be sent from Hamas, an Islamist Palestinian militant group.

In a video posted to Twitter on Friday morning, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) international spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hecht said that Israel's "Iron Dome Aerial Defense System has been operating to intercept the rockets saving countless lives and preventing wide-scale damage on the home front."

"The IDF is actively looking to deescalate the situation in order to ensure freedom of worship and safety for civilians of all faiths, as they celebrate Passover, Ramadan and Easter," he said in the video.

The reports of rocket attacks on Thursday came shortly after videos captured clashes between Israel's Police force and hundreds of Palestinians at the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in Jerusalem. Violence between Israelis and Palestinians has escalated this week following Israeli police raids at the compound of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, a site which is also holy in Judaism. The growing tensions come during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which coincides with the Jewish Passover holiday this year.

The exchange of fire across the border between Lebanon and Israel is the biggest since the war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas in 2006.

National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) developed by Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Kongsberg provide "air defenders with a tailorable, state-of-the-art defense system that can maximize their ability to acquire, engage and destroy current and evolving enemy fixed and rotary wing aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and emerging cruise missile threats," Raytheon states.

Last October, the director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Thomas Karako, told Newsweek that NASAMs are "a little bit more tailored to the cruise missile defense problem, whereas the Iron Dome would be a little bit more on the lower end, still very capable, for a different problem set."

Similarly, Riki Ellison, the chairman and founder of Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, told Newsweek in October 2022 that the Iron Dome system is more designed to intercept rockets and not cruise missiles.

In regard to the Patriot missile defense system, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) states that the name stands for "Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target," and that the system is a "surface-to-air guided air and missile defence system currently in use world-wide."

On Friday, Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the CSIS International Security Program, told Newsweek that the Patriot missile defense system is geared toward defending against "cruise missiles and theater ballistic missiles."

"These targets are, in general, high and fast. Iron Dome is for close-in defense against short-range rockets and drones," he said.

Ellison also spoke with Newsweek on Friday and explained that Israel's Iron Dome system serves as a "standalone system," while the Patriot missile defense system can "mesh in with other systems around it."

"[Iron Dome] wasn't designed for cruise missiles, it was designed for rockets," Ellison said, adding that the Iron Dome costs far less per rocket interception when compared to the Patriot missile defense system.

Newsweek reached out to the Israel Ministry of Defense for comment via email.