Houthis David's sling and stones vs US Goliath THAAD
US-operated THAAD Air Defense System was activated to try and intercept the Yemeni Missile
The US has positioned a THAAD missile battery in Israel to reinforce the Israeli Arrow system and the two intercepted yesterday's barrage from Yemen
The pair of ballistic missiles launched on Sunday from Yemen, which sent hundreds of thousands of Israelis to shelters, were intercepted simultaneously by an Israeli Arrow missile and an American THAAD missile, evident from debris found after the interception in Hebron
Last October, a THAAD battery arrived in Israel, transferred by the Biden administration to reinforce Israel's missile defense system following missile barrages from Iran — the largest ever launched
The THAAD is the US equivalent of the Israeli Arrow system but differs significantly in design and operation Both systems were developed after the 1991 Gulf War, when the Patriot system failed to intercept Iraqi Scud missiles
The Patriot was originally developed as an anti-aircraft system and later converted to intercept ballistic missiles Both the US and Israel realized, based on its performance during the war, that a dedicated system was needed for this purpose
