Why was Israel unable to shoot down the rockets that were recently fired at her?

Question

Hundreds of rockets have hit Israel in recent weeks, and the civilian death toll due to rockets over 3 weeks was 44 (90 if you include soldiers). So I don't think it would have been a waste of ammunition to intercept them.

Answer 1

Short range rockets are not like the SCUD missiles, they stay low and are difficult for radar to detect. The bigger ones go up further into the atmosphere and then the Patriot missile batteries can lock on and take them out.

The Rockets Hezbollah uses are also very small.

Answer 2

My dear friend.

1- The Katayusha "Little Katy" MRL was designed by the russians and ha been used effectively against the germans in WWII..has a tall slim body though its cross section will be small then radar detection will be very very hard.(Impossible)
2-The katayusha rockets fired by Hezbollah was takes a steep angle of attack and has a very small range about 12 - 20 KM. and the do fly in medium altitude..not low altitude(they are not Cruise missiles)..
3- They have no means of a Guidance on board...just the solid rocket fuel and the warhead.
4-they have no means of ECM Electronic Counter Measures..
5- so..as seen from the above mentioed points...they are much like an artillery....but....the surprise has yet to come...

Israel has developed(from the 1970's with USA a High Energy Laser ...that can Destroy Anything Airborn " a rocket, a missile, an artillery shell"...and it is in service right now...

the Dilma is ...how couldnt israel...with all these technologies...stop the rockects.......

and how couldnt israel stop their so Called "Immune " tanks...from being blasted wide open by Hizbollah ATGM.....!!!

see the links below!!!!

Answer 3

I'm not for sure if Isreal has any type of missle interceptors like the U.S. does.

We have what's called "Patriot" missles that intercept all different kinds of "scud" missiles. The effective range of a Patriot is extremely versitile.. as its max operating altitude is roughly around 200 - 60,000 ft. MSL (Mean Sea Level). And it has an operating range anywhere from 400 ft. (0.070 nautical miles) to 27 nautical miles (About 30 miles). But, it won't work unless the parameters are set.. as the Patriots won't explode or allow itself to destruct or intercept for that matter too close to the ground.

I don't even know what it would be called to intercept or shield rockets from reaching their targets. I'm guessing some type of infered - heat magnet.. or something to distract the rocket.

I know we deployed many rockets and the such to Isreal... But as far as our, "Patriot missiles" go... I'm not for sure.

There is a limit on these interceptors though. And before they can be used, they have to be preprogrammed by the launcher, which then the missles download the data from the computer internally.

Such as the local geography, the terrain, countour, etc...and then there are such codes, that are dialed up--- a process that can take well over weeks just to format. So, who knows...

If they were used, I'm sure it distracted a few rockets, but obviously not all... In Iraq, Patriots were used, however, many scuds with biological compounds did in fact hit targets in southern Iraq and Northern Kuwait... I know this, cus I was there... ;)

--Rob

Answer 4

Hezbollah's tactic was to show Israel that patriot missiles are obsolete because they are capable of sending multiple missiles all at the same time. This would be hard to defend against, even for the US. However, an army with the right ordinance and little concern over collateral damage would be able to silence Hezbollah and it's tactics, with very short notice. I would imagine the daisy cutter as being a most effective weapon under these conditions. With Hezbollah digging itself in, in caves and tunnels, deep in rock, the daisy cutter would probably neutralize everything and everybody within miles of the drop zone.

Pin point bombing would be yet another weapon with strategic value against this enemy. Again, collateral damage aside, this enemy would have trouble avoiding this attack, even in a congested neighborhood. Just ask the Serbs about that.

The Israeli's have been busy, with their post mortem, pointing fingers at each other, and complaining about some of the ineffectiveness of their assaults. Most of the fingers are pointed at their new prime minster, as they should be. That is where the buck stops. For now, they must make time to correct their miscues.
Time is not necessarily on their side, so it would be well, that they drop the finger pointing and get on with developing new strategy

Answer 5

There is no evidence that the Israelis had the even the slightest ability or equipment to intercept and "shoot down" any of the thousands of rockets that were fired at them by the Hezbollah terrorists. There are still serious doubts that the U.S. really has this ability. Therefore, Israel's only defense was to hammer the launching sites with artillery and aircraft, and hope to destroy the rockets before they could be launched.

Answer 6

There isn't anything that can knock down short range low altitude projectiles yet. The systems used today often cost way more than what they are after thus the enemy can enjoy a huge economic leverage on the opponent. Although Israel did a lot more damage than Hezbollah you can bet the U.S. taxpayer will pick up the tab for both sides. Hope you enjoyed the war as you paid for it.

Answer 7

Too Short Of Distance For The Anti-Missile Technology They Possess

Answer 8

1. The rockets were only about 12 feet long and very slender. An object like that is very difficult to detect, even with modern radar.

2. If they had been able to detect it, by the time they reacted the missile would have already hit its target.

Answer 9

The rockets Hezbollah was using are very small, unguided weapons with a low terminal velocity and shallow trajectory. Such things usually fly below the height at which radar can detect them and even if they are detected they start thier decent so fast its virtually impossible to target them accurately.

Answer 10

The rockets were too small that they were firing at Israel........... it wouldn't be feasible to spend say $200,000 dollars cost of your rocket to try and shoot down one that cost maybe a thousand dollars... if that much.. did you see them on the news?..they were about 120 inches long... about as round as an cd.. they weren't even guided...... Israel didn't want to use up her cruise missiles... they cost 1 million dollars a shot.

"O" Wise One..............has the answer