The Times of Israel is liveblogging Sunday’s events as they happen.
A decade after first test, upgraded Iron Dome system gets ‘100%’ in new tests
A decade since the first tests of the Iron Dome missile system, the Defense Ministry says it has completed a fresh series of successful interception trials with an upgraded version of the air defense battery.
“We have completed a series of tests with a success rate of 100%. The system intercepted all threats, which were simulated in an area secured for the purposes of the experiment,” says Pini Yungman, a vice president of the Rafael defense contractor, which performed the tests alongside the Defense Ministry.
According to the ministry, an advanced version of the Iron Dome was used in the tests, which “simulated the future threats that the system may confront.”
The Iron Dome air defense system is made up of an advanced radar array, manufactured by a subsidiary of the Israel Aerospace Industries, interceptor missiles, produced by the Rafael defense contractor, and a command-and-control center made by the firm mPrest. The system represents the shortest-range system in the Israeli military’s multi-tiered air defense array.
Pushed into development by former defense minister Amir Peretz, the system saw its first real-world tests in 2010 and was declared operational a year later.
Since then, it has performed over 2,400 successful interceptions, the Defense Ministry says.
“The successful test series that we have completed took place exactly ten years after the first interception test of the Iron Dome system. Throughout the last decade, we have conducted tens of interceptions as part of a framework of tests and more than 2000 operational interceptions,” says Moshe Patael, the head of the ministry’s Israel Missile Defense Organization.
Trump warns Iran not to kill protesters, door still open to talks
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump warns Iran against killing protesters who have risen up over the regime’s downing of a Ukrainian airliner, as his defense secretary leaves the door open to talks with Tehran without preconditions.
Trump’s salvo comes as Iran’s Islamic regime faces a challenge from angry street protests, having come to the brink of war with the US with a series of tit-for-tat confrontations.
“To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS,” Trump tweets, warning that the world and “more importantly, the USA is watching.”
To the leaders of Iran – DO NOT KILL YOUR PROTESTERS. Thousands have already been killed or imprisoned by you, and the World is watching. More importantly, the USA is watching. Turn your internet back on and let reporters roam free! Stop the killing of your great Iranian people!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2020
In an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” just before the tweet, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper says Trump is still willing to hold talks with Iran’s leaders.
“We’re willing to sit down and discuss without precondition a new way forward, a series of steps by which Iran becomes a more normal country,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper says on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
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