Contrary to multiple reports in US media, the Israeli military is not running low on air defense interceptors amid its conflict with Iran, the IDF has indicated.
The IDF has said it is “prepared and ready to handle any scenario,” but officially has declined to comment on specific munitions matters.
Military officials have told The Times of Israel that the operation in Iran was planned months in advance, and the planning took into account Iran’s stock of ballistic missiles and drones that it could fire at Israel.
Taking Iran’s stockpile into account means the IDF prepared ahead of time with enough interceptors to handle the threat.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said this evening that “we launched the campaign when Iran possessed around 2,500 surface-to-surface missiles.”
Additionally, the IDF is actually running through fewer interceptors than it anticipated at this point in the operation.
The IDF estimated that Iran would fire several hundred ballistic missiles at Israel in its initial response. In reality, it mustered just 100.
In all, some 470 ballistic missiles have been fired from Iran at Israel in the past week, below the IDF’s “reference scenario” for the operation.
Most of the Iranian missiles fired at Israel in recent days have been intercepted, at similar rates to Iran’s attacks in 2024, according to the IDF.
Military officials said 5-10 percent of the missiles “leak” through and impact Israel. This includes missiles that the IDF says it does not try to shoot down “according to protocol,” allowing them to strike open areas without causing damage to any critical infrastructure, as well as missiles it failed to intercept which hit urban areas and caused casualties and damage.
The military has routinely emphasized that, as good as Israel’s multilayered air defenses are, they are not hermetic.