[Gerald]

(Reuters) - The incursion by an unmanned aircraft into Israeli airspace at the weekend exposed the weakness of Israeli air defenses, an Iranian military official was quoted as saying on Monday.

The Israeli air force shot down a drone on Saturday after it crossed into southern Israel, the military said, but it remained unclear where the aircraft had come from.

Jamaluddin Aberoumand, deputy coordinator for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the incident indicated that Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile defense system "does not work and lacks the necessary capacity", Fars news agency reported.

The Iron Dome system, jointly funded with the United States, is designed to shoot down short-range guerrilla rockets, not slow-flying aircraft. It intercepted more than 80 percent of the targets it engaged in March when nearly 300 rockets and mortars were fired at southern Israel, the Pentagon said at the time.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8970AH20121008

Note: Mon Oct 8, 2012 5:42am EDT