Israel has deployed its ship-mounted defense system, known as the C-Dome, for the first time against a “suspicious” aerial target that breached the country’s airspace near the southern city of Eilat, according to military sources on Tuesday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed an alert in the vicinity of Eilat on Monday evening, an area previously targeted by intercepted ballistic missile fire from Yemen’s Houthi rebels, allies of Palestinian militants Hamas.
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“In response to the sirens sounded in the Eilat area due to the intrusion of a hostile aircraft, IDF Naval forces swiftly identified a suspicious aerial target crossing into Israeli territory,” stated an IDF spokesperson in a release issued early Tuesday.
The statement further revealed, “The target was successfully neutralized by the ‘C-Dome’ naval defense system,” marking the system’s first operational use. While the IDF did not confirm the nature of the suspicious target, speculation arose regarding the possibility of a drone incursion.
Mounted on Sa’ar 6-class corvettes, German-made warships, the C-Dome shares the interceptor technology with the renowned Iron Dome air defense system, renowned for its effectiveness in intercepting rocket threats originating from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Despite the successful interception, no injuries or damages were reported from the incident, signifying the effectiveness of Israel’s maritime defense capabilities. That defense system costs roughly $50,000 per launch.
