A Houthi missile seemingly evaded Israel’s advanced detection systems on Sunday morning. It was only intercepted after entering Israeli airspace, raising questions about potential malfunctions in the existing security systems.
The Houthis do not have their own ballistic missile industry. Their entire stockpile comes from Iran. What is known in Yemen as “Tufan” is essentially the Iranian “Ghadir” missile, derived from the “Shahab-3”. For 25 years, Israel has been developing and upgrading the Arrow system to intercept this type of missile.
This missile has a range of nearly 2.000 kilometers, enough to cover the distance from Yemen to Israel. The missile is transported by truck from storage to the launch site, where it is assembled. The missile’s target is predetermined and cannot change or adjust course during flight. Unlike the “Shahab,” preparations for its launch, mainly fueling the first stage, take only 30 minutes instead of several hours.
The missile is launched vertically and follows a ballistic trajectory, meaning it travels in an arc. It flies through the atmosphere while the motor is still operating, propelling it forward. During its flight, the first stage separates, and the second reenters the atmosphere after exhausting its fuel, continuing to accelerate due to gravity.
At most, 15 minutes from Yemen to Israel
From northern Yemen, it takes the missile only 12-15 minutes to reach central Israel. Its weight before launch is estimated at 15-17 tons, but the warhead alone weighs around 650 kg, a significant explosive payload that, combined with its impact speed, can cause serious damage to both civilian and poorly protected military structures.
There are several detection phases for such a missile, which appear to have failed.
“When the missile is set for launch, it is in an open space visible to Israeli and United States (U.S.) reconnaissance satellites, which should be monitoring potential launch sites. When the missile is launched, the intense heat produced by its motor is detected by the U.S. missile warning satellite network, and the information should be relayed to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF),” Israeli media reported.
Several radar systems are supposed to detect and track the missile when it’s on its trajectory toward Israel.
This includes radars from the U.S. and Israeli navies in the Red Sea, the long-range X-band radar produced by Raytheon, located in the Negev and operated by U.S. troops, and finally, the Arrow system’s radar.
It is still unclear whether the missile was detected in time and why the Arrow system did not intercept it as planned.
