WATCH: IDF radar systems up close: 'Post' views defense tech that has thwarted 40,000 threats

The Post viewed up close several different radar systems, including the MMR, which has protected Israel from around 40,000 aerial threats during the war, around 10,000 of which were categorized as real concrete threats and were shot down with the MMR’s assistance.

Fifteen MMR systems have been sold within North and South America. Each system is expensive and a major sale on its own, though the systems are still less expensive than many competing American and Western European options.

Fifty have been sold in Europe, mainly in Eastern Europe, especially in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, a dramatic growth since 2017-2018, before which no systems had been sold in Europe.

An additional 50 MMR systems have been sold in the Middle East, and 10 have been sold in Africa.

IAI radar systems are also part of the multiple radars connected to the new laser defense systems, which the IDF recently publicized that it is already using, with the main system itself being developed by Rafael.

A major challenge that IAI’s Elta and the IDF faced during the current war was a massive escalation in drone attacks on Israel.

At one point, IAI sources indicated that the shoot-down success rate was around 90% against rockets but only around 30-40% for drones.

By later periods of the war, the shoot-down rate for drones was also close to 80-90%, said IAI sources, in no small part because they improved the MMR and other radar systems the IDF was using.

IDF sources have previously told the Post that, at various points, they increased the parameters for what the radars were categorizing as threats, explaining a period of time where the IDF started to regularly announce false alarms of potential drone threats in the North.

IAI sources also explained that, as a general military point for any country’s radar technology, sometimes increasing the volume of radars covering an area can more quickly and accurately identify a threat.

This is because sometimes some radars may see only one aspect of the threat, others may see only a different aspect, but putting the picture of all of them together can help reach a clearer conclusion.

Another threat that neither the IAI nor anyone else anticipated was the two massive ballistic missile assaults by Iran on Israel in April 2024 and October 2024.

In both instances, the US, England, France, and a variety of other countries helped provide Israel with a comprehensive missile defense, which reduced the harm to the Israeli home front significantly from what might have occurred if Israel had only its own defenses.

Pressed about when, if ever, Israel might be able to fend off such a massive Iranian attack on its own, IAI sources indicated that this could take years and a new approach to missile defense in terms of quantity.

Additionally, IAI sources said that in the coming weeks, the company will unveil new capabilities of radars that track threats while moving around on vehicles.

One other future move that the IAI source discussed is the future replacement of the Arrow 2 missile defense system with the Arrow 4 system.

Although the development of the Arrow 4 was first announced in 2021, there is still no known estimated delivery date, and such new systems can take a decade or more from initial development.

Still, the fact that the system was mentioned by IAI sources means that its development is moving forward in earnest.