Israel could spend more than $1.3 billion to intercept 300 Iranian UAVs and missiles

A former Israeli brigadier general estimated that the country's military could lose more than $1.3 billion to deal with Iran's drone and missile attacks.

"We shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles with the Arrow system, cruise missiles with other systems, and mainly use fighter jets to shoot down Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)," former Brigadier General Reem Aminoach, who was a financial advisor to the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said on April 14.

According to Mr. Aminoach, each Arrow missile costs 3.5 million USD, each David's Sling interceptor costs 1 million USD and each fighter jet is about the same. The total cost of the campaign to respond to Iran's attack that Israel has to spend is 1-1.3 billion USD, Mr. Aminoach estimated.

Meanwhile, the Iranian attack cost only 10 percent of Israel’s defense effort, Mr. Aminoach estimated. “We need to prepare for the possibility of a series of similar attacks and understand the level of defense needed,” he said.

Israeli anti-aircraft missile streaks across the sky on April 14. Photo: Reuters — Israeli anti-aircraft missile streaks across the sky on April 14. Photo: *Reuters*

The Israeli military has not commented on the information. Iran has not announced the total cost of the raid.

Iran and its proxies launched a total of 170 UAVs, 120 ballistic missiles, and 30 cruise missiles in a raid on Israeli territory on the night of April 13 and early morning of April 14. The IDF announced that it, along with its allies and partners, had shot down 99% of these targets.

Israel's allies, the US and the UK, deployed fighter jets, warships and air defence systems to help stop the Iranian attack. However, they have not yet announced the costs involved.

Israeli fighter jets continuously intercept Iranian UAVs and missiles — The moment Israeli fighter jets shot down Iranian UAVs and missiles. Video : *IDF, Times of India*

Experts say Iran uses a tactic of combining UAVs with missiles to attack Israel. This tactic forces the enemy to launch expensive missiles to intercept cheap UAVs and exhaust their air defense capabilities, creating conditions for the next missile attack.

Iran used some of its UAVs, which were slower and less sophisticated than the jet-powered models it currently has, apparently knowing they would be easily destroyed. The attack could pose a new challenge for Israel, which needs air defense systems that cost much more than the total value of its targets to achieve a 99 percent intercept rate.