Army officers barely in their twenties are tasked with the tremendous responsibility of identifying rocket attacks on the State of Israel and launching interceptor missiles within seconds, be they Arrow, Iron Dome or Patriot. Three officers share the moments of their famous interceptions.

After the commotion had died down and the debriefings had ended, it was clear to Lt. Ron Shavit who would be the first person he would call. "I called my mom," he remembers, "and I told her, 'Watch the news; that's your son's work.'"
Lt. Dima Kisilov's first phone call, meanwhile, was to his father. "I asked him if he heard what had happened in Eilat because I was afraid he might be worried," he says, "but it turns out I had woken him up. So I told him, he was excited for a bit, and then he went back to sleep."

Before 2nd Lt. Chen Shaked could call his mother, however, she called first, but he wasn't yet at liberty to tell her what had happened. "She started asking, 'How are you? How's your Shabbat going? Is everything okay?'" he says with a smile.

"I told her, 'Mom, I'll talk to you later,' and I called back only after I got permission to tell her. She told me, 'Well done; you're protecting our country.' It was only then that I really got excited and started realizing I had done something important."

Ron, Dima and Chen are the face of a new brand of warfare. They may talk shyly, sometimes a bit too quietly, and smile with embarrassment when talking about their accomplishments, but they, along with the IDF's cyber warfare unit, are at the forefront of the battle against the threats Israel faces today.

They are the interceptors. Being a combat soldier nowadays doesn't necessarily require gun-in-hand and knife-between-the-teeth, but rather advanced technological knowhow and the courage to green-light—with only seconds to decide—the Iron Dome, Patriot or the Arrow missile-defense systems to intercept incoming projectiles. That is true for present threats and even more so for the dangers the future holds.

Each of the three is responsible for a recent, notable missile interception. The latest took place about a month ago when a missile was fired from Syria at Israel and was shot down by an Arrow interceptor. Launching that expensive anti-ballistic missile is a rare occurrence, and Chen, barely 20 years old, is the one who gave the order.

A month before that came 23-year-old Dima's big moment: A barrage of four rockets was fired from the Sinai Peninsula towards Eilat, and he was the one to give the order to intercept them using the Iron Dome.

'I was protecting my home'—Lt. Ron Shavit and a Patriot
The incident 23-year-old Lt. Ron Shavit commanded was even more unusual. It happened on July 14, 2014, on the second week of Operation Protective Edge, when tensions were at a record high.

At 6:15am, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was identified coming out of Gaza and making its way towards Israel. Very quickly, it became clear this threat had to be shot down, and Ron was the one to push the button, sending a Patriot missile to successfully intercept the UAV. This was the first time since the 1991 Gulf War that Israel used a Patriot missile to intercept a threat and the first time a Patriot was used against a UAV anywhere in the world.

Ron’s entire military service has been in aerial defense. "I enlisted in the IDF as a combat soldier in 2012 and joined the Patriot unit," he shared. "Later, I became a commander and an officer and returned to the battery I started in, and now I command this battery. I really came full circle."

He was still a young officer during Protective Edge. "I finished the final stage of the officers' training course on June 30, 2014, and the war started a week later," he says. "We were presented with intelligence and told things were heating up, and the alertness level was raised. Despite that, my shift on the morning of July 14 was a routine one."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4950269,00.html

Second Lt Chen Shaked, Lt. Dima Kisilov and Lt. Ron Shavit
Footage of what Hamas claimed was a UAV that infiltrated Israel during Protective Edge
An Iron Dome battery stationed near Eilat
An Arrow missile

Brig. Gen. Zvika Haimovich

Just 20 commanding Arrow interceptor. Naija which way?


Genius J