A US missile-defense system, hailed as the world’s best, is headed to Israel to counter Iran

• The US is sending a sophisticated missile defense system to Israel.
• The THAAD system was described by a former US general as the “best in the world.”
• It could be used to take out Iranian missiles.

Amid escalating conflict in the Middle East, the US is stepping up support for Israel with the deployment of its THAAD battery system.

THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense), a missile-defense system created by Lockheed Martin, was recently described by retired US General Mark Hertling as the “best in the world.”

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Hertling said that the US only has six of the systems in its arsenal. “Loaning one and deploying a group of soldiers to Israel is a pretty big deal,” he said.

The move comes amid the rising threat of missile and drone attacks on Israel from Iran and its allies.

In recent weeks, Israel has launched an incursion into southern Lebanon to damage Iran-backed militia Hezbollah, which has responded by dramatically increasing its missile and drone attacks over the border.

At the same time, Israel is weighing up how to respond to a missile barrage by Iran, after Tehran fired nearly 200 missiles at Israel on October 1.

The Pentagon said Sunday it would deploy a THAAD battery and the 100 soldiers that operate it to the country to counter the threats. According to Bloomberg, the system could arrive as early as Tuesday.

It’s the first deployment of US forces to Israel since the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks by Hamas that sparked the conflict.

The THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, is considered to be among the best in the world. It is believed to cost somewhere between $1.96 and $3.25 billion.

Lockheed Martin, its makers, says it can defend against short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missile threats. It’s the only missile defense system designed to intercept targets either inside or outside the Earth’s atmosphere. 

In his CNN interview, Hertling explained that the system enhances Israel’s air defense capabilities.

While Israel’s famed “Iron Dome” is designed to deal with rockets and low-altitude missiles, and its “Arrow” system can take out high-altitude missiles, the THAAD system operates in a different way to both. 

Hertling said that instead of firing a missile that explodes near another missile or rocket the crew is seeking to intercept, it hits it directly. 

It has six launchers, capable of firing around eight missiles at a time, dramatically increasing the chances of intercepting incoming Iranian missiles. Its missiles are reported to have a range of up to 124 miles (200km).

“If there is a reaction to any kind of Israeli strike against Iran in the coming days. This is the best system in the world,” Hertling said. 

The Pentagon has also dramatically increased its military presence in and around the Middle East since the war in Gaza began last October.

A recent report by The Costs of War Project, a Brown University research initiative, found the US has spent $22 billion on military operations in the Middle East over the past year.

The US provides Israel with around $3.8 billion a year in military aid, and since the October 7 terrorist attacks has provided a total of $17.9 billion in security assistance to the country, the report found. 

In the early months of the war between Israel and Hamas, the US deployed two aircraft carriers to Israel to deter Iran from joining the conflict and deployed a THAAD battery to the region.

It has also deployed US Navy vessels to protect commercial ships from attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, and helped Israel defend itself from an Iranian missile attack in April. 

And back in 2019, when Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked Saudi oil facilities, the US deployed a THAAD system to protect the Kingdom. 

There are fears that the conflict could spark a much wider war in the region.

Ahmet Kaya, a principal economist at the UK’s National Institute of Economic and Social Research, previously told BI that the growing conflict could “exacerbate the instabilities in the global economy, further increase the uncertainties, harm disinflationary efforts, and eventually reduce the global GDP growth.”

The Bank of Israel said in May that the war would cost around $66 billion by the end of next year, which is equivalent to roughly 12% of Israel’s GDP, per CNN.

Israel’s finance minister previously described the war as the “longest” and “most expensive” conflict in the country’s history.