Iron Dome protects Aramco oil plant in Saudi Arabia?

[Beny Karachun]

An interesting thing I've heard while watching the news. Take it with a grain of salt.

It was claimed that the US purchased two Iron Dome batteries (3-4 launchers per battery, 20 missiles each) and that one of the deployments was in Saudi Arabia near Aramco oil plants.

 

[_NOBODY_]

An interesting thing I've heard while watching the news. Take it with a grain of salt.

It was claimed that the US purchased two Iron Dome batteries (3-4 launchers per battery, 20 missiles each) and that one of the deployments was in Saudi Arabia near Aramco oil plants.

This makes no sense to me. Why would the US do this instead of selling it's own systems like Patriot to KSA?

 

[Beny Karachun]

This makes no sense to me. Why would the US do this instead of selling it's own systems like Patriot to KSA?

Patriot isn't that good against drones, it was already present in Aramco. It's very large and very expensive, limited amount of missiles per launcher. Iron Dome is way better optimized for that mission.

The bigger problem was that the radars weren't covering everything, so the Iranian drones came undetected.

 

[_NOBODY_]

Patriot isn't that good against drones, it was already present in Aramco. It's very large and very expensive, limited amount of missiles per launcher. Iron Dome is way better optimized for that mission.

The bigger problem was that the radars weren't covering everything, so the Iranian drones came undetected.

What is the effective range of Iron Dome for engaging targets?

 

[Beny Karachun]

What is the effective range of Iron Dome for engaging targets?

4-70km effective range. In tests it achieved more range than that.
1km/s maximum speed, which is around Mach 3.

 

[Philip the Arab]

An interesting thing I've heard while watching the news. Take it with a grain of salt.

It was claimed that the US purchased two Iron Dome batteries (3-4 launchers per battery, 20 missiles each) and that one of the deployments was in Saudi Arabia near Aramco oil plants.

Imo, Saudis will buy the Skyknight/Skynex from Rheinmetall/UAE to use against drones as well.

Only matter of time before GCC, and Israel both have a layered defense against Iranian drones.

 

[Trench Broom]

There have been rumours about this happening for about 2 years, At this point I'd be more surprised if Saudis didn't have Iron Dome

 

[Beny Karachun]

Imo, Saudis will buy the Skyknight/Skynex from Rheinmetall/UAE to use against drones as well.


View attachment 861880

Only matter of time before GCC, and Israel both have a layered defense against Iranian drones.

Those are very short range (10km for SkyKnight and 5km for Skynex)

Drone munitions outrange both systems

There have been rumours about this happening for about 2 years, At this point I'd be more surprised if Saudis didn't have Iron Dome

According to what I hear it's technically owned by the US

 

[Philip the Arab]

Those are very short range (10km for SkyKnight and 5km for Skynex)

Drone munitions outrange both systems


According to what I hear it's technically owned by the US

I think it’s targeted mainly at loitering munitions, it would guard the long range SAMs and certain strategic targets such as airbases and oil fields.

In order for loitering munitions to hit the target they have to come in very close. Iranians have not demonstrated that they have good conventional UCAVs that could penetrate air defenses.

 

[Hack-Hook]

An interesting thing I've heard while watching the news. Take it with a grain of salt.

It was claimed that the US purchased two Iron Dome batteries (3-4 launchers per battery, 20 missiles each) and that one of the deployments was in Saudi Arabia near Aramco oil plants.

the question is why israel itself instead of Iron dome , use F-16 and F-35 to intercept Iranian made drones

 

[Beny Karachun]

the question is why israel itself instead of Iron dome , use F-16 and F-35 to intercept Iranian made drones

Depends on the situation. Israel does use the Iron Dome to intercept drones, it happened a few times already, however the topography of the Golan Heights sometimes doesn't allow radar tracking. This is why Israel is now investing in procuring a few radar systems mounted on huge blimps (It really is huge, saw it with my own eyes, it's like a flying skyscraper)

Overall the Golan Heights is a very tricky double edged sword Israel has, Israeli jets could hide behind them if they're threatened but so could Iranian drones. In those situations, when small Iranian drones are flying low in between the mountains, helicopters/jets in the area are sent to destroy them.


F-35s were used to intercept Iranian drones over a different (For some reason classified) country, in which Israel doesn't have the Iron Dome, but does have early warning radars.
F-16s are used when air defenses are out of range (For example, like happened when one of the 3 Iranian drones flying to the Karish gas rig, it was too far for the Saar 5 corvette to intercept, it was intercepted quite far away from the rig), or when the drone is flying above terrain which makes it harder to intercept.

Saudi Arabia is a relatively flat desert which is perfect for air defenses.

 

[Corruptistan]

I highly doubt this unconfirmed news.

KSA has one of the best multilayered air defenses in the world. THAAD, Patriots, HAWK, Skyguard etc.

Some of the best radars out there too.

Royal Saudi Air Defense Forces - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

With one of most battle-tested and proven air defense forces in the world. Has there been a more active air defense force in the world in recent years with so many successful interceptions? I seriously doubt it.

Not to mention the state of the art air force.

Depends on the situation. Israel does use the Iron Dome to intercept drones, it happened a few times already, however the topography of the Golan Heights sometimes doesn't allow radar tracking. This is why Israel is now investing in procuring a few radar systems mounted on huge blimps (It really is huge, saw it with my own eyes, it's like a flying skyscraper)
View attachment 861887

Overall the Golan Heights is a very tricky double edged sword Israel has, Israeli jets could hide behind them if they're threatened but so could Iranian drones. In those situations, when small Iranian drones are flying low in between the mountains, helicopters/jets in the area are sent to destroy them.


F-35s were used to intercept Iranian drones over a different (For some reason classified) country, in which Israel doesn't have the Iron Dome, but does have early warning radars.
F-16s are used when air defenses are out of range (For example, like happened when one of the 3 Iranian drones flying to the Karish gas rig, it was too far for the Saar 5 corvette to intercept, it was intercepted quite far away from the rig), or when the drone is flying above terrain which makes it harder to intercept.

Saudi Arabia is a relatively flat desert which is perfect for air defenses.

Saudi Arabia is the by far largest country in the region. It is a huge country with a very varied topography.

Vast majority of Saudi Arabia is mountainous or highland. Very little is flat desert outside of part of the north with is sparsely populated and the almost empty Rub al-Khali.

Saudi Arabia, to put it into perspective, is some 100 times larger than Israel.

Imo, Saudis will buy the Skyknight/Skynex from Rheinmetall/UAE to use against drones as well.


View attachment 861880

Only matter of time before GCC, and Israel both have a layered defense against Iranian drones.

Is Saudi Arabia not developing its own air defense systems? I remember reading that not long ago that SAMI was developing a system. There is 100% cooperation with UAE in this regard and Halcon.

 

[Super Falcon]

Very expensive system to just hit few hundred dollars rockets

Better buy laser systems

 

[Corruptistan]

Very expensive system to just hit few hundred dollars rockets

Better buy laser systems

I think that Iron Dome is cheaper than the Patriot.

Saudi Arabia had the first confirmed kill (or one of the first) using a laser weapon (China's Silent Hunter) a few months ago.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1508141737537122304

https://twitter.com/x/status/1508075629991927809

https://twitter.com/x/status/1528363446328102917

I have read that KSA is actively pursuing every air defense system that it can get its hands on (Chinese too) so they will only continue to improve.

If they add the Iron Dome, it would just improve them further.

Anyway it appears to be a rumor from some Israeli channel.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1547659803085877255

An interesting thing I've heard while watching the news. Take it with a grain of salt.

It was claimed that the US purchased two Iron Dome batteries (3-4 launchers per battery, 20 missiles each) and that one of the deployments was in Saudi Arabia near Aramco oil plants.

This news might be related to this:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1547227215846309888

 

[Beny Karachun]

I think that Iron Dome is cheaper than the Patriot.

Saudi Arabia had the first confirmed kill (or one of the first) using a laser weapon (China's Silent Hunter) a few months ago.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1508141737537122304

https://twitter.com/x/status/1508075629991927809

https://twitter.com/x/status/1528363446328102917

View attachment 861913

I have read that KSA is actively pursuing every air defense system that it can get its hands on (Chinese too) so they will only continue to improve.

If they add the Iron Dome, it would just improve them further.

Anyway it appears to be a rumor from some Israeli channel.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1547659803085877255

This news might be related to this:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1547227215846309888

Problem with Chinese laser system is there's only 4km range, which is well within drone munition range, and doesn't allow for enough reaction time against rockets (rockets/missiles travel at 700~ m/s so there's roughly 6 seconds to intercept each rocket, could be easily overwhelmed)