Some of the missiles reportedly struck “Israel’s” Nevatim Air Force base, which is one of “Israel’s” largest airports and is the main base for F-35 fighter jets.

    • aaaaaaadjsf [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      Not really with modern weapons, yes their launches are easy to detect on early warning radars, but once ballistic missiles enter the terminal phase they are extremely hard to shoot down, because the warhead is traveling at hypersonic speeds while re entering the atmosphere, and all the booster stages have been jettisoned. Then there’s also the concept of plasma stealth if the warhead is traveling fast enough at these hypersonic speeds. To intercept ballistic missiles reliably you need to shoot them down before that, while they are in space or the upper atmosphere in mid flight with something like an Arrow-2 interceptor missile. Which Israel has managed before when the Houthis tried to bomb the port at Eilat last year. But once the warhead enters the terminal phase, it’s very difficult to intercept. Ballistic missiles are a lot more advanced these days, it’s why Russia has had so much success with the Kinzhals, which are modified ballistic missiles designed to be launched by fighter jets.