On Saturday, Iran launched more than 200 drones and cruise missiles at Israel.
As the drones made their way across the Middle East en route to their target, Israel has invoked a number of defense systems to impede their progress.
The Iron Dome, operational for well over a decade, comprises at least 10 missile-defense batteries strategically distributed around the country.
When radar detects incoming objects, it sends that information back to a command-and-control center, which will track the threat to assess whether it's a false alarm, and where it might hit if it's not.
The system then fires interceptor missiles at the incoming rockets that seem most likely to hit an inhabited area.
Which also makes it extremely well-prepared for an onslaught of drones.
Things get more complicated if the drones are flying so low that the radar can't detect them.
Israel has hundreds of interceptor missiles at its disposal, but it's still possible for the Iron Dome to get overwhelmed, as it did on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel with a barrage of thousands of missiles.
US officials have said that so far Iran has launched a total of 150 missiles at Israel.
The Iron Dome has already been active in deflecting them, although a 10-year-old boy was reportedly injured by shrapnel from an interceptor missile.
While the Iron Dome is Israel's last and arguably best line of defense, it's not the only factor here.
The UAVs in question are likely Iran-made Shahed-136 drones, which have played a prominent role in Russia's war against Ukraine.
These so-called suicide drones-it has a built-in warhead and is designed to crash into targets-are relatively cheap to produce.
That slowness and fixed flight path in particular mean the unmanned aerial systems have to travel for several hours before they reach their intended destination, leaving ample opportunities to intercept them.
Some of that work has fallen to the US military, which has confirmed that it has shot down an unspecified number of Iranian drones and will continue to do so.
The UK has said it will provide backup for US planes that have been diverted from their existing missions, and that it will intercept UAVs as well.
This Cyber News was published on www.wired.com. Publication date: Sun, 14 Apr 2024 01:43:05 +0000