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According to New York Times, March 20 about Israel's Air Defense System, Iron Dome:

Israeli officials initially claimed success rates of up to 90 percent.

...

But a growing chorus of weapons experts in the United States and in Israel say their studies — based largely on analyses of hits and misses captured on video — suggest that Iron Dome destroyed no more than 40 percent of incoming warheads and perhaps far fewer.

...

From such evidence, as well as from rocket and warhead basics, Mr. Lloyd estimates that the system succeeded 30 percent to 40 percent of the time in detonating enemy warheads.

Is the Iron Dome system effective 90% of the time?

Oddthinking
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    Lots of possible semantics here. If 90% of rocket's didn't hit their target, then the objective was 90% achieved. Is 'Iron Dome' even used on a rocket that is off target? – DJClayworth Jul 22 '14 at 17:04
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    @DJClayworth, no, it isn't. The system tries to intercept only the rockets that are going to hit populated areas. Also, its mission is not to destroy the warhead but to prevent it from detonating upon impact. Which means that every rocket that doesn't detonate on the ground is considered a successful interception. Including if a rocket lands intact on the ground, and doesn't detonate. The figure that published regards only the rockets that the system tries to intercept, which means that if the system didn't try to intercept a rocket, for whatever reason, it doesn't get into the statistics. – SIMEL Jul 22 '14 at 17:32
  • First they calculate the trajectory of the rocket and if it hit any major target only they will defend using iron dome because of the cost of interceptor missile. The success rate is depend on the number of interceptors and how they are deployed. – naveejr Jul 23 '14 at 16:07

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