Episode Notes:

One of the defining features of the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas has been the use of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. According to the Israeli military, Iron Dome has intercepted 90 percent of the more than 3,000 rockets that Hamas and other Palestinian groups have fired into Israel in the last few weeks.

Ankit Panda — the Stanton senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, editor-at-large at the Diplomat, and the author of Kim Jong Un and the Bomb: Survival and Deterrence in North Korea — joins the Warcast to discuss Iron Dome and missile defense.

[ 01:03 ] What role has Iron Dome played in this most recent crisis between Israel and Hamas, and is this different from past crises?

[ 03:07 ] There are some amazing photos of Iron Dome interceptors at night -- can you explain why the interceptors have a really crazy trajectory while Hamas rockets seem to fly on a ballistic trajectory?

[ 06:39 ] What are some takeaways from this conflict in terms of Iron Dome and missile defense more broadly?