When the air-raid sirens blare, Israelis scramble for cover.
But as hundreds of drones and missiles come flying towards the country, residents put their trust in the country’s multi-layered air defence system to protect them.
The Iron Dome is the signature component of Israel's defence armoury.
With a reported 90 per cent success rate, it is considered the envy of militaries around the world.
The system has saved countless civilian lives over various conflicts in the last decade, analysts say.
The Iron Dome sits at the lowest tier of Israel's air defences.
It was designed to take out mostly cheap, short-range rockets fired by groups across its borders.
Each of the Iron Dome's mobile batteries can cover an entire mid-sized city.
Imagine an invisible shield spanning an area about double the size of Hobart, Tasmania's capital.
The Iron Dome consists of three key components.
First, it uses sophisticated radars to detect, identify and track incoming threats within a 100 kilometre radius.
Next, the command centre acts.
Commanders analyse the speed and trajectory of a threat.
Analysts say if a missile is travelling at 1km per second, there would be – at most – one minute to respond to the attack.
The interceptor missiles are the third crucial element.
Each Iron Dome battery includes three to four launchers, which can hold up to 20 missiles.
If projectiles are on course to hit a populated area, interceptor missiles are fired to take them out.
The system was deployed in 2011 with backing from the United States.
According to its manufacturer Rafael, the Iron Dome has intercepted more than 5,000 rockets so far.
Its Tamir interceptor missiles soar through the air at two times the speed of sound, using steering fins and heat-seeking sensors to come within 10 metres of a target.
In a matter of seconds, the warheads detonate into fragments of high-speed metal to take out threats.
The Tamir interceptor was initially estimated to cost about $US100,000 ($155,000) each to produce, but recent estimates have the price down to $40,000 to $50,000 each.
Only a handful of countries are reported to have purchased an Iron Dome system, among them is the US, India, Singapore and Azerbaijan.
Cracks in the system
In recent years, the Iron Dome has been up against extended, high intensity bombardments on several fronts.
It was only intended to withstand short bursts, so at times, it struggled to keep up.
When Hamas launched thousands of rockets from Gaza in a 20-minute barrage on October 2023, the dome was breached.
Michael Shoebridge, director and founder of Strategic Analysis Australia, said even the most effective system could become overwhelmed, so he wouldn't describe the incident as a failure.
But some drone "swarms" have tested the system's weaknesses.
Israel's military said four of its soldiers were killed and seven severely injured in a drone strike north of Tel Aviv in October 2024.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it carried out the attack using new drone models, which penetrated Israeli air defence radars without being detected.
Matthew Levitt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, said there was "no other way to slice it … It was a failure of the Israeli system".
Layers put to the test
The Iron Dome has been up against barrages of powerful missile strikes from Iran, as the country responds to Israel's 'Operation Rising Lion'.
While the Iron Dome plays a key role in Israeli air defence, it doesn't work alone.
David's Sling in the middle
The next layer above the Iron Dome is the David's Sling system — also known as Magic Wand — which covers the middle layer.
The name comes from the biblical account of David and Goliath.
David’s Sling intercepts short to medium, and medium to long-range missiles from a distance of up to 300 kilometres.
The outer Arrow 2 and 3
Iran and its proxies have weapons in their arsenal that can strike with a range of up to 1,500km.
So, these can reach anywhere in Israel.
Many of these types of long-range weapons have been on display in Tehran's recent missile barrages.
Iran's strikes have killed more than a dozen people in less than a week, and injured hundreds, Israel said.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it was employing a new method that caused Israel’s multi-layered defence systems to target each other and allowed Iran to successfully hit many targets.
The Israel Defense Forces has not commented on the claims.
Israel's operation has wiped out members of Iran's military command, damaged nuclear sites, and oil and gas facilities.
More than 200 people have been killed, state media reported, citing the health ministry.
Israel said the goal of Operation Rising Lion was to dismantle Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
It remains unclear which missile types Iran used in its recent strikes.
But past strikes have reportedly included medium-range ballistic missiles such as the Emad and Ghadr-1, and Iran's first hypersonic Fattah-1.
The Arrow 3 was designed to target this calibre of longer range, powerful missile.
It can intercept ballistic missiles up to 3,000km, outside the Earth's atmosphere.
The Arrow also been used in the current war to intercept long-range missiles launched by Houthi militants in Yemen.
THAAD and Patriot back-ups
Israel also has US Patriot systems in operation, which have a range of about 160km.
And late last year, the Pentagon sent Israel a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery (THAAD) to defend the country against Iran’s ballistic missile attacks.
Iran has been attempting to overwhelm Israel's air defences in recent strikes, using waves of missiles and drones.
Although several sites have been hit across the country, analysts say damage is minimal compared to the amount of projectiles being launched.
Stephan Fruehling from the ANU's Strategic and Defence Studies Centre said defence systems were never completely safe.
But Israel appeared to be intercepting most of the strikes, including drones flown over Jordanian and Syrian airspace.
"I have not seen any indication that there's a systematic failing," he said.
"Stuff will always get through, but you're not seeing widespread destruction.
"The Israelis would still consider this a pretty big success."
The Iron Beam of the future
Israel is developing a new system to intercept incoming threats with laser technology.
Israel has said the new Iron Beam system will be a game changer, operating at significantly cheaper cost than existing systems.
Its interceptor technology would cost a few dollars apiece, but the system is not yet operational, according to Israeli officials.
Additional 3D modelling: Jack Fisher
