Iron Dome (Hebrew: כִּפַּת בַּרְזֶל, kippat barzel) is a mobile all-weather air defense system[8] developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aircraft Industries.[7] The system is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to 70 kilometres (43 mi) away and whose trajectory would take them to a populated area.[9][10] Israel hopes to increase the range of Iron Domes interceptions, from the current maximum of 70 kilometres (43 mi) to 250 kilometres (160 mi) and make it more versatile so that it could intercept rockets coming from two directions simultaneously.[11]\r
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Iron Dome was declared operational and initially deployed on 27 March new near Beersheba.[12] On 7 April new, the system successfully intercepted a Grad rocket launched from Gaza for the first time.[13] On 10 March new, The Jerusalem Post reported that the system shot down 90% of rockets launched from Gaza that would have landed in populated areas.[10] By November new, official statements indicated that it had intercepted 400+ rockets.[14][15] By late October new, the Iron Dome systems had intercepted over 1,200 rockets.[16]