The success of the ballistic missile defenses, facing their first complex, high-stakes combat scenarios in Israel, the Red Sea and Ukraine, will encourage militaries worldwide to invest in the expensive systems, experts say – and intensify the missile arms race.
Iran launched as many as 120 intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Israel on April 13, US and Israeli officials say. American SM-3 and Israeli Arrow interceptors destroyed almost all of them, leaving behind drones and smaller threats to the Iron Dome system.
In previous months, interceptors fired from US Navy destroyers stopped Houthi anti-ship missiles, while in Ukraine US-made MIM-104 Patriot batteries shot down advanced Russian Iskander and Khinzal missiles.
