It finally happened: for the first time, this Halloween, warfare on Earth made its way into space.

On October 31, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, armed and allegedly directed by Iran, launched two cruise missiles and one ballistic missile at Israel. The cruise missiles were intercepted by Israeli fighter jets, a fairly important event by itself. The ballistic missile, on the other hand, took an entirely different flight path and required a different solution.

The medium-range ballistic missile, fired from Yemen, was intercepted more than a 100 miles above the Earth by an Israeli Arrow-3 anti-ballistic missile. The Houthi missile warhead was technically in space when it was destroyed, making it the first hostile action to take place off-planet.

The Missile Attack

MORTEZA SALEHI//Getty ImagesThe missile launched at Israel may have been an Iranian Ghadr MRBM. The Ghadr (“Intensity”) is thought to have a range of 1,000 miles and carries a 1,650 pound high-explosive warhead, shown here in Isfahan, Iran, February 2023.

In October, the Houthi rebels controlling much of Yemen changed gears from their missile and drone attacks against longtime foe Saudi Arabia. Instead, they lobbed a mix of long-range kamikaze drones and surface-skimming cruise missiles northwest over the lengthy Red Sea toward Israel—nearly 1,100 miles away.

The Iran-backed Houthis control much of western Yemen—including the capital Sana’a—and have been eager to show support for Hamas since the Gaza-based group launched an assault on Israeli settlements, and subsequently experienced fierce Israeli counterattacks.

The Houthis have long employed a variety of missile weapons that are quite similar—but not identical—to Iranian systems. Those include the Quds cruise missile (very similar to Iran’s Soumar cruise missile, which was inspired by the Soviet Kh-55 missile) and, most recently, the Aqueel and Toufan medium-range ballistic missiles (which appear derived from the Iranian Qiam and Ghadr missiles).

Related Story

But the Houthi missile campaign failed to land a single successful strike in the face of a gauntlet of ground-, air-, and sea-based air defense platforms from the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Israel. That is, unless you count a drone and missile that crashed in Egypt and Jordan, respectively, rather than Israel.

The Houthis launched another attack on October 31. It included two Quds-4 long-range cruise missiles and, for the first time, a supersonic, high-arcing medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) thought to be patterned on Iran’s Zolfaghar or Ghadr MRBM.

According to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), an Israeli-American Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile destroyed the Houthi missile warhead in mid-flight. This is the first known intercept of an MRBM, which have a range of 1,000 to 3,000 kilometers or 620 to 1,860 miles.

SVEN NACKSTRAND//Getty ImagesAn Arrow missile launcher in Tel Aviv, 2002.

A recording from an F-35 fighter released by the IDF of the anti-missile system, known as Hetz, shows the intercept:

The system was only used in combat once prior—in the downing of an errant Syrian S-200 air defense missile in March of 2017.

The IDF claims that the ballistic missile was downed “at the most appropriate operational time and place.”

Another first, for the F-35: Meanwhile, the two cruise missiles were shot down by Israeli fighters, and at least one was downed by an Israeli F-35I stealth fighter—the first ever cruise missile killed by an F-35 in combat.

A recording (seen below) from the F-35’s AN/AAQ-40 electro-optical sensor display shows the missile in flight, apparently overland. Sparks fly as the fighter releases the missile which can then be seen slamming into the cruise missile and destroying it. The F-35 likely used a short-range AIM-9X Sidewinder, which has an infrared-imaging seeker to help it acquire more difficult targets, and a thrust-vectoring rocket engine, which would have allowed the missile to execute very sharp turns away from the launch aircraft’s vector.

The F-35 Lightning II stealth jet is ordinarily thought of more as a strike plane than an interceptor—with its lower maximum speed and range, as compared to heavier F-15 non-stealth fighters. However, the F-35’s ability to integrate multiple sensors via a device called the Distributed Aperture System may assist it in engaging tricky targets like cruise missiles, with their small radar-cross section and tendency to approach at low altitude.

Evidence that the F-35 can intercept at least subsonic cruise missiles in real combat will comfort Lightning operators in Europe and Asia who have beheld (with alarm) Russia’s extensive cruise missile attacks targeting Ukrainian cities.

The Science Behind the Intercept

Ballistic missiles are so named because they follow a ballistic trajectory, using a rocket motor to send a warhead high aloft that then falls back to Earth, hitting the target. Missile operators can use knowledge of Earth’s rotation, the influence of gravity, and other factors to aim the missile precisely at a target thousands of miles away.

There are three phases to a ballistic missile flight:

1. The first is the boost phase, in which the missile is riding rocket motors, warheads in tow, as the missile rises into the air.
2. In the second phase, known as the midcourse phase, the rocket motors run out of fuel, burn out, and the missile tumbles back to Earth. The warheads, however, continue on to their destination, coasting along in low earth orbit until it’s time to descend to the target.
3. The descent to the target is known as the terminal phase, with the warheads screaming down onto their targets at Mach 15… or faster.

The Houthi missile reportedly traveled 1,000 miles, making it also the longest range ballistic missile attack ever. The farther a ballistic missile needs to travel to its target, the higher the altitude it must achieve. Medium-range ballistic missiles, intermediate-range ballistic missiles, and intercontinental ballistic missiles sprint into the atmosphere, through the increasingly thin air, and eject their warheads to fly the rest of the way to the target.

RAOUF MOHSENI//Getty ImagesAn Iranian Ghadr ballistic missile, 2011.

An MRBM warhead reaches an altitude of at least 200 miles. Low earth orbit begins at an altitude of 124 miles. This means the Houthi missile warhead temporarily became a satellite, rushing through space before plunging down onto its target at hypersonic speed.

Except it never arrived.

Arrow, Israel’s Ballistic Missile Killer

While Israel’s Iron Dome air defense has prominently defended the country against attacks by unguided rockets from militant groups, it was actually preceded by another joint U.S.-Israeli system. This prior system was intended to defeat more advanced threats—supersonic ballistic missiles lobbed by other Middle Eastern states, like those Iraq launched at Israel during the 1991 Gulf War.

The Arrow began development in Israel in the early 1990s. It proceeded with significant involvement and interest from the U.S.—which, until 2002, was forbidden by treaty from operationally deploying its own anti-ballistic missile defenses. The first operational Israeli system, the Arrow-2, entered service in 2000 and was designed to counter short- to medium-range ballistic missiles. It uses two-stage rockets to attain Mach 9 speeds, and releases a “kill-vehicle” with its own built-in radar and infrared seekers, as well as proximity-blast warhead.

Handout//Getty ImagesAn Arrow-2 missile launched in a nighttime test fire in February 2007, from Palmachim military base. This test shot successfully intercepted a simulated Iranian Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile.

The subsequent Arrow-3 interceptor was devised to defeat faster, higher-flying intermediate- and intercontinental-range ballistic missiles—and satellites, if they could be intercepted beyond the atmosphere. Its kill vehicle lacks an explosive warhead, as it relies purely on improved accuracy and kinetic energy to complete its missions.

Related Story

Both Arrow systems are initially guided to target using the huge, ground-based ELM-2080 Green Pine radar (range 500 miles), which receives instructions via two control systems known as Citron Tree and Hazelnut.

Each Arrow battery can engage 14 simultaneous intercepts and dispose of four to eight launchers, with six Arrow missiles each. Israel is thought to have three Arrow batteries deployed altogether, complementing six medium-range Patriot batteries, six David’s Sling batteries, and ten Iron Dome batteries.

GIL COHEN-MAGEN//Getty ImagesIsraeli soldiers walk near part of the Iron Dome defense system.

A new Arrow-4 missile is under development to replace the Arrow-2, with enhancements likely aimed at tackling maneuverable, hypersonic weapons and missiles that release multiple independent warheads. Meanwhile, Germany is moving forward aggressively with plans to spend $4.3 billion purchasing Arrow-3 missiles for the missile defense of Europe starting in 2025.

Future Implications

Given extensive testing of Arrows, it shouldn’t be surprising that it was successful in defeating the Houthi attack. However, the now-tangible evidence of Arrow’s utility may force Iran to reconsider the possibility that its modest arsenal of around 50 medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles might not achieve much.

Iran may seek to devise missiles that are significantly harder to intercept—like a recently touted Fattah hypersonic missile—or to build such a large number of medium-range missiles that they outnumber Israel’s inventory of Arrow interceptors. But even if Israel ran out of Arrows, other Israeli air defenses like the Patriot and David’s Sling could still likely help pick off some incoming ballistic attacks (though with lower odds of success).

The Takeaway: Not the Space War You’d Expect

The first battle in space (for humans, anyway) wasn’t between two satellites, or two spaceships, or even two astronauts armed with laser pistols. It was a battle of missiles between a rebel army and Israel.

A psychological barrier, the idea of space as a domain unspoiled by mankind’s vicious infighting, has been breached, and there is no going back. Space, along with the land, air, sea, and cyber domains, is now a battlefield.

Related Stories