'Hitting a rock with a rock': A first-hand look at Israel's Arrow air defense system: Reporter's notebook
TEL AVIV -- The destruction at Ramat Gan, just east of Tel Aviv, early on Wednesday morning was not widespread.
You had to look up beyond the Israeli police officers and journalists to spot the damaged apartment, the facade of which, jutting out over the side street, had largely been blown away – one of many structures damaged in the attack. A couple in their 70s died in the building, officials said.
The destruction, following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, was caused by Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah, which fired as many as 60 drones, rockets and missiles at Israel Tuesday night into Wednesday, according to Israeli officials.
As part of that barrage, Tehran fired a ballistic cluster-type missile, which was intercepted by Israel’s air defenses. Such missiles are causing particular concern amongst people living in Israel because when the missile is intercepted, it breaks up into dozens of smaller bomblets that fall to the ground and explode on impact, spraying shrapnel and killing or maiming anyone in the immediate vicinity.
Although there is an international convention banning the use of these types of cluster munitions, Iran, Israel and the United States are not signatories.
As with all missile attacks on Israel, it's their air defense systems that have protected Israelis from what otherwise would have been far worse destruction and loss of life.
On Tuesday, ABC News was given rare access to an Israeli Air Force base and shown Israel’s longest-range air defense system, Arrow 3, which is used to shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles. The filming at the base was done under tight restrictions by the Israeli military because of the sensitive nature of the site.
The U.S-Israeli-developed Arrow 3 interceptors are fired at high velocity and can intercept ballistic missiles in space.
An Israeli Air Force reservist, who had to remain anonymous for security reasons, told ABC News that U.S. Air Force operatives have been “sitting side-by-side” in an operations room in Israel during the war with Iran, assessing threats and intercepting them in a coordinated way.
The U.S. and Israeli air defense teams “coordinate in real time,” the reservist said, as Iranian missiles and drones target Israel.
The reservist, who holds the rank of major, said his team was tasked with shooting down a ballistic missile with another missile. He said he described his work to his grandmother in the following way: “I told her to throw a rock at me and I would throw a rock back at her rock and hit it midair.”
ABC News asked the reservist if Israel’s stocks of air defense interceptor missiles is depleted after more than two weeks of war with Iran.
“Anyone on the defending side of the house would always say they would like to have more,” he replied, then added that Israel is “prepared for the long run and we have ongoing production that continues to replenish whatever we are shooting.”
ABC News was also shown a large pile of spent casings at the air base from the interceptor missiles. Each empty tube, nearly a yard in diameter, represented an interceptor fired.
Israel’s Air Force would not allow us to say exactly how many empty casings there were. However, we can say that there were dozens – a number that speaks to the duration of the war, the number of ballistic missiles Iran has fired at Israel, and, in turn, how busy Israel’s air defenses have been since the joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran began.
ABC News' Guy Davies, Jordana Miller, Dorit Long and Omer Manor contributed to this report.
