Last Saturday night, I was following the unprecedented Iranian aerial attack on Israel. I had a personal interest in how the attack unfolded. I spent the better part of my career at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory and at Raytheon, developing algorithms and software that are part of the missile defense that was deployed to help defend Israel.

Only about 1% of the 350 drones, cruise and ballistic missiles that were launched were able to reach their intended targets, an outstanding result. Without the missile defense systems, the causalities in this attack would have been in the thousands. This could have happened, as critics of the missile defense systems claimed they would never work and were a waste of U.S. taxpayers’ money. Fortunately, the funding for these programs wasn’t cut. They were built and deployed. Thousands of innocent civilians’ lives were saved, both Israeli and Iranian.

Without this defense, Israel would have had no choice but respond to this attack with overwhelming force, the likely result being many deaths of Iranian civilians. Because the defenses worked, Israel’s response Friday was measured and appeared aimed at de-escalating tensions, allowing time for the U.S. and our allies to try and pursue diplomatic solutions.

Hopefully, the performance of these systems will motivate the Republicans in the House to allow the Ukraine aid bill to come to a vote. Ukraine needs to replenish its missile defenses against the onslaught of Russian drones and missiles before it is too late.

Samuel Rosenthal
Portland

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