Iron Dome's - Tamir Missile

Iron Dome Short range Air Defence System has found unprecedented success during its service since 2011 and has been credited with more than 1500 operational intercepts; a success rate of some 90 percent when measured against the number of rockets designated by the system as imminent threats to people or property. But the main constituent of this combat proven system is formed by Tamir Missile-the main interceptor of Iron Dome System , which makes it quite deadly. It forms the Counter Rocket, Artillery Mortar (C-RAM) and short range air defence system. Tamir Missile uses several steering fins for high maneuverability and is equipped with electro-optic sensors . It is designed for high efficiency and low cost. It has a proximity fuel explosive warhead which is revoked by an active laser fuse which is then used to destroy its own targets. Each battery is capable of protecting an urban area of approximately 150 square kilometer.

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                    Pic : Tamir Missile Firing off

At an exhibition in Israel in late 2010 , Rafael the manufacturer of Tamir Missiles displayed a ground attack version of Tamir Missile called the "Iron Flame" . This missile would eliminate the Tamir missile’s seeker and fuze, although it would retain the capability to receive guidance updates in flight, and could instead be equipped with several different types of warheads and seekers.

Giora Katz told about this in 2015. “This is a highly accurate missile with a relatively large warhead on the scale of about 20 kg,” Katz says. “Its range is longer than 40 kilometers and it has a super-accurate guidance head. The project is in its final stages.”

The Specifications of Tamir Missile are listed below :

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Specifications :-
WEIGHT – 90 kilograms
LENGHT – 3 metres
DIAMETER – 16 cm
Flight Ceiling –10,000 m
WARHEAD – 11 kg (proximity fuel explosive which is triggered by an active laser fuse which is later used to destroy its own targets)
SPEED –Mach 2.2
ACCURACY– 80 %-90 %
MISSILES PER LAUNCHER – 20 per battery

The Iron Flame missile would eliminate the Tamir missile’s seeker and fuze, although it would retain the capability to receive guidance updates in flight, and could instead be equipped with several different types of warheads and seekers.

IEach interception rocket costs around $95,000. Due to the cost, Israel usually uses it only against rockets destined for residential areas, rather than those headed for open ground. The cost of rebuilding infrastructure damaged by rockets can often exceed that of using the Iron Dome. 

​The interceptors are typically described as costing about $50,000 each, although costs ranging from $30,000 to $100,000 each have been cited. To get a higher probability of kill two interceptors, separated by a short-time delay, can be fired at the same target. It operates within the atmosphere to eliminate the targets.

It is guided by a EL/M-2084 Radar which detects the rocket's launch and tracks its trajectory. A Battle Management & Weapon Control (BMC) which calculates the impact point according to the reported data, and uses this information to determine whether the target constitutes a threat to a designated area. Only when that threat is determined, is an interceptor missile fired to destroy the incoming rocket before it reaches the predicted impact area. Tamir receives commands from the control centre until it is close enough to home in to its target using its own radar seeker. The missile maneuvers using its fins and body lift to destroy its target.

The ELM-2084 or EL/M-2084 designed and manufactured by IAI (Israel Aerospace Industries) ELTA is an advanced three-dimensional, S-Band radar, incorporating modular and scalable architecture. It is used with the SPYDER-MR, Iron Dome, Arrow 3 and David's Sling air defense systems. The WRL (Weapon Locating Radar) version of the ELM-2084 had been purchased by Canadian Army. The Republic of Singapore Air Force has also acquired the EL/M-2084 radar. The Army of the Czech Republic has ordered eight ELM 2084 MMR radars scheduled to be delivered in 2019-2021.

The MMR is designed to detect and track artillery shells, rockets and missiles, as well as aircraft, and to support defenses against all of these. It is also able to quickly both estimate launch points and predict impact points of artillery shells, rockets and missiles, information which is useful for both warning and missile defense, as well as for attacking launchers.

The ELM-2084 is designed to simultaneously perform hostile weapon locating, friendly-fire ranging and air surveillance. This radar is able to detect rockets, artillery and mortars at long ranges, and can simultaneously engage a large number of targets. Deployed in a C-RAM role, it can provide fire control when integrated with a weapons system. Because of its superior tracking capabilities ELM-2084 delivers a reliable and improved air situation picture as well as reliable, uninterrupted tracking of any maneuvering aircraft. Furthermore, it can detect and track low radar cross-section (RCS) targets. Advanced signal processing enables effective operation even in conditions of heavy clutter as well as in noisy and dense environments, with assured classification and identification of targets and superior low-altitude operation. The radar system also includes advanced Electronic Counter-Counter Measure (ECCM) capabilities.
It can track upto 1,100 targets for air surveillance with a detection rate of up to 256 nm air surveillance.

Its Features are :-

-3D Multi-beam Operation by Active Electronically steered Array
- Dual Operation Modes: Weapon Location Sector of up to 120° or rotating / Air Defense: Sector or rotating up to 30RPM for fast update rate
- Scalable to several sizes / configurations.
- High mobility and fast deployment
- Air-Transportable by C-130
- Remote operation
- Integrated Network Operations
- Advanced ECCM Capabilities
- Advanced Signal Processing for: Operation in dense environments, classification and identification of targets, superior low altitude operations.

The two  tables above indicate that the version of the MMR used in the Iron Dome system has a range of “up to” 100 km against artillery shells and other small (low radar cross section) targets and a range of up to 350 km against larger aircraft targets.  They also suggest that it can estimate lauch points for artillery (including rockets) to within about 125 meters for 50 km ranges [0.25% of 50 km =125 m].
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Picture : The Tamir Interceptor Missile of Iron Dome System

References :

1. Wikipedia
2. mostlymissiledefense.com
3. www.armyrecognition.com
​4.Raytheon