The success of ballistic missile defenses facing their first complex, high-stakes combat scenarios in Israel, the Red Sea and Ukraine will encourage militaries globally to invest in the pricey systems, experts say — and intensify missile arms races.
Iran launched as many as 120 intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Israel on April 13, U.S. and Israeli officials say. U.S. SM-3 and Israeli Arrow interceptors destroyed nearly all of them, leaving drones and smaller threats to the Iron Dome system.
In previous months, interceptors fired from U.S. Navy destroyers stopped Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles, while in Ukraine, U.S.-made MIM-104 Patriot batteries have shot down advanced Russian Iskander and Khinzal missiles.