U.S. Army’s First Combat Use Of THAAD Missile Defense System Just Occurred In Israel (Updated)
An official confirmed that the interceptor was fired at a Houthi ballistic missile Thursday night over Israel.
Howard Altman, Geoff Ziezulewicz
Posted on Dec 27, 2024
One of America’s prized Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries fired an interceptor in combat for the first time Thursday. The system, forward-deployed in Israel, was employed against an incoming medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) fired by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, a U.S. military official told TWZ. The official added that it was unclear as of Friday if the U.S. interceptor or an Israeli one actually took out the missile. A THAAD battery belonging to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) scored the system’s first kill overall in 2022, as you can read more about here.
Video appeared online purportedly showing the U.S. THAAD interceptor’s launch in Israel earlier today. A voice was heard saying he had spent “18 years waiting for this,” a potential reference to the system’s age, as the U.S. Army stood up its first THAAD battery in 2008, after it was developed beginning in the early 1990s.
The THAAD battery and about 100 soldiers were deployed to Israel in October to bolster Israel’s defenses ahead of an expected Israeli retaliation for Tehran’s massive missile barrage earlier that month. A counter-attack from Iran never came to fruition, but the battery has stayed in place.
https://www.twz.com/land/u-s-armys-first-combat-use-of-thaad-missile-defense-system-just-occurred-in-israel
