Apply Israel-Iran lessons to Taiwan

There is still a great deal to learn about Iran’s drone and missile attack on Israel.  Even so, it is very clear that if such an attack were launched by China against Taiwan, the results could well be dismal and Taiwan would suffer greatly.

If there is one clear lesson from Iran’s attack, it is that the US and Japan along with Taiwan must urgently prepare to fend off a similar attack.

In the Iranian attack on Israel:

• 170 kamikaze drones were fired; one entered Israeli territory; at least one appears to have landed in Iran;
• 30 cruise missiles were fired; 25 were shot down outside of Israeli territory;
• 103 out of 110 ballistic missiles were shot down; seven ballistic missile impacts were recorded on Israeli territory​ and five of them hit the Nevatim air base, damaging at least one transport plane.

Israel used its layered, mostly ground-based air defenses including Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow-2 and Arrow-3. One drone was shot down by an Israeli Sa’ar ship equipped with C-Dome, the sea-based version of Iron Dome. Israel also used its fighter jets and other aircraft to shoot down drones and cruise missiles.

Israel’s defenses were deeply coordinated. Israel put in the air its Oron surveillance aircraft, a multi-domain, multi-sensor solution that was used to spot threats and pass target coordinates to fighter aircraft and ground based defenses.

Israel also used its Eitam AWACS and Shavit intelligence gathering aircraft during the attack. The “Wing of Zion” 767 aircraft, based at Nevatim, also was launched. Ostensibly it is a VIP transport for Israel’s top leaders. In reality it is a sophisticated command center in case of a nuclear attack.

The US, UK, Jordan and Saudi Arabia also supported Israel against Iran’s massive attack.  US ships and aircraft shot down some 80 “objects” that were mostly drones, but US AEGIS class Arleigh Burke class destroyers also used their AWACS missiles against ballistic missile threats. Between four and seven SM-3 air defense missiles were launched. The only on-the-ground casualties were in Israel where one seven-year-old Bedouin girl was seriously injured by shrapnel and in Jordan where  reportedly four people died.