Space has become the new theater of war after Israel shot down a rocket soaring ‘outside of Earth’s atmosphere.’
The Israel Defense (IDF) revealed last week that its Arrow missile defense system took down an ‘aerial threat’ allegedly fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
While details are sparse, the accepted boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space is 62 miles above the surface, known as the Kármán line.
IDF said the Arrow intercepted a surface-to-surface missile in the Red Sea fired towards its territory after the rocket traveled nearly 1,000 miles from Yemen.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed it was the third attack the group had launched at Israel and vowed there would be more to come until ‘Israeli aggression’ stopped, referring to the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The Israel Defense (IDF) revealed last week that its Arrow missile defense system took down an ‘aerial threat’ allegedly fired by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen
Pictured is Arrow honing in on the aerial threat that was outside of Earth’s atmosphere
The Israeli military said it used the Arrow aerial defense system for the first time since the October 7 outbreak of the war with Hamas, the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip.
The war began when Hamas gunmen launched a surprise Israel, killing more than 1,400 people and taking over 220 hostages.
Since then, more than 8,300 people have been killed, many of them children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, an impoverished slice of land that is home to 2.4 million people.
Yemen’s Houthi military joined the Israel-Hamas conflict on October 31 when the group fired drones and missiles at Israel, forcing IDF to break out its Arrow 3 ‘missile-killer’ to strike back.
Arrow, jointly built with the US, was first tested in 2013, followed by another in 2014 and again in 2019 over the state of Alaska amid concern about Iran’s continuous nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The defense system is designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere, allowing it to take down Houthi’s rocket last month.
Space has become the new theater of war after Israel shot down a rocket soaring ‘outside of Earth’s atmosphere’
IDF said the Arrow intercepted a surface-to-surface missile in the Red Sea fired towards its territory after the rocket traveled nearly 1,000 miles from Yemen
Arrow is said to have taken down an enemy missile soaring outside Earth’s atmosphere. While details are sparse, the accepted boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space is 62 miles above the surface, known as the Kármán line
Arrow provides hypersonic capabilities and can defend a vast area, providing a comprehensive defense of strategic sites and large populated areas.
It can also blast long-range threats, including those carrying weapons of mass destruction, far away from the targets.
The missile system uses hit-to-kill technology to destroy incoming missiles by launching vertically and moving toward the estimated interception point.
The kill vehicle is found once the hostile warhead is identified and the target is close enough.
It is believed that Houthi launched a laser-guided Barkan 3 long-range missile, which avoided detection for other defense layers, forcing Israel to use its Arrow.
CEO and President of the Israel Aerospace Industries, Boaz Levy, said: ‘The Arrow system […] demonstrated today that Israel possesses the most advanced technology for defense against ballistic missiles at various ranges.’
Israel’s IDF spokesperson, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, referred to the Houthi threat on the evening of October 31, saying that Israel knows how to protect itself and protect its interests.
He said that despite the dangers, Israel was concentrated on the conflict against Hamas and would not be distracted by the incident but could act in the future at a time and place of its choosing.
The Houthis see themselves as part of the so-called ‘Axis of Resistance,’ which encompasses Iranian-backed Shi’ite Muslim factions in Iraq and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
The movement has battled a Saudi-led coalition since 2015 in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
During the fighting, the Houthis targeted strategic assets in the Gulf, most notably energy facilities in Saudi Arabia.
The addition of yet another Iran-backed group fighting against Israel marks a terrifying escalation in the war and heightens fears the fighting in Gaza could engulf the Middle East.
It means that Israel is facing attacks by Tehran-backed groups from every direction – from Hamas to its east, Hezbollah terrorists from the north in Lebanon, Syria’s National Defense Forces to the west and now Yemen’s Huthis from the south.
