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Iranian solid-fueled MRBM production rates were estimated by Israel to be at 200 a month, and rapidly increasing. That is actually a pretty remarkable productio

Iranian solid-fueled MRBM production rates were estimated by Israel to be at 200 a month, and rapidly increasing. That is actually a pretty remarkable production rate - basically the yearly production rate of interceptors. And that's only the solid fueled (by now the most produced), and only in ranges that can reach Israel. There is no reason why they would be any easier to intercept - plenty of aeroballistic missiles and even HGVs are propelled by solid fueled boosters. Iranian missiles launchers are pretty cheap, and reportedly quite plentiful - they are relatively simple modifications of domestically produced truck platforms. The Iranian account for why the strikes slowed down, FWIW, is that it took a significant amount of time to dig out the exits of the missiles bases, not that they ran out of launchers. Given the recycling of footage from launcher destruction and the simplicity of the launchers I personally find that account significantly more plausible.

JumpCrisscross 1y ago
> not that they ran out of launchers They didn't run out of launchers. The launchers just emerged from a predictable place with unfuelled rockets. That made them easy to pot from the air.
- sudosysgen 1y ago
  The Iranian missile arsenal and production is now focused on solid fueled missiles, so they were emerging from a predictable place, but with a fuelled rocket they could fire in minutes. Since it took at least an hour for a cruise missile to make it's way and around 15 minutes for an ALBM to make it's way, that means that once Israeli drones started being shot down, they were able to dig out the entrances, exit and launch faster than it took for a munition to be delivered. Of course if Israel had been able to fly manned aircraft deep into Iran and for prolonged periods of time, that would have been impossible, and they would actually have been unable to fire. But that wasn't the case and so they were able to fire, probably limited by the ability to dig out the entrances and synchronize launches between different sites.
  - tguvot 1y ago
    israel was flying with manned aircrafts with refueling planes over iraq/syria.

JumpCrisscross 1y ago

> not that they ran out of launchers They didn't run out of launchers. The launchers just emerged from a predictable place with unfuelled rockets. That made them easy to pot from the air.

sudosysgen 1y ago
The Iranian missile arsenal and production is now focused on solid fueled missiles, so they were emerging from a predictable place, but with a fuelled rocket they could fire in minutes. Since it took at least an hour for a cruise missile to make it's way and around 15 minutes for an ALBM to make it's way, that means that once Israeli drones started being shot down, they were able to dig out the entrances, exit and launch faster than it took for a munition to be delivered. Of course if Israel had been able to fly manned aircraft deep into Iran and for prolonged periods of time, that would have been impossible, and they would actually have been unable to fire. But that wasn't the case and so they were able to fire, probably limited by the ability to dig out the entrances and synchronize launches between different sites.
- tguvot 1y ago
  israel was flying with manned aircrafts with refueling planes over iraq/syria.