• absentbird@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    What are we talking about? Israel shot down flight 114 with a fighter jet.

    Both patriot missiles and the iron dome are specifically for intercepting missiles, though Israel stopped using patriots last year. The iron dome only works on unguided projectiles, while the patriot system is capable of hitting drones and guided missiles.

    The only time a patriot missile has taken down a plane, at least in my memory, is that spy plane over Ukraine, but that is a very impressive outlier.

    • remon@ani.social
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      2 months ago

      What are we talking about?

      The fact that you can use air defense systems to shoot down airliners, which I’d argue doesn’t exactly count as “defensive” use.

      Both patriot missiles and the iron dome are specifically for intercepting missiles

      Not really. Patriot is a general anti-air defense system and Iron dome is also designed to intercept artillery shells. Missiles are just the most common things to intercept.

      • absentbird@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        An artillery shell is a ballistic missile.

        A patriot missile can shoot down an airplane, but they have never been used against airliners. I don’t think the iron dome has ever even been deployed against aircraft.

        • remon@ani.social
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          2 months ago

          An artillery shell is a ballistic missile.

          No, missiles have a motor.

          A patriot missile can shoot down an airplane, but they have never been used against airliners. I don’t think the iron dome has ever even been deployed against aircraft.

          Not am I aware of, no.

          • absentbird@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Maybe there’s some military specifics I don’t understand, but ballistic basically means unguided, and a missile is either a self propelled projectile or a forcibly propelled projectile. Wouldn’t that include artillery? Like an arrow can be called a missile, that’s where the term comes from.

              • absentbird@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                It can historically refer to any weapon which is shot or propelled towards a target; slings, arrows, magic missile, etc. but I guess that would be confusing with all the modern ordinance in use.