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"The lives beings saved were not only those of Israeli citizens and soldiers, but of the Palestinians in Gaza who would have tended to suffer the most had there been an incursion.” - "Ari," Israeli engineer


HAIFA, Israel – If there was one clear winner in the latest round of hostilities between Israel and Hamas, it was the Iron Dome -- the Jewish state's complex defense system that plucks rockets out of the sky before they can threaten civilian targets.

As daily rocket attacks from Gaza leapt from a handful to hundreds earlier this month, the vaunted system was deployed to near universal praise, intercepting an estimated 400 potentially deadly missiles. In an exclusive interview with FoxNews.com, "Ari," an Iron Dome engineer whose real name is being withheld, described what it is like to be part of the team of cutting edge technology developers, and the challenges faced by the team at Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which worked with two other Israeli companies, Elta, and mPrest Systems on the program.

“I’m an engineer and not a politician, but I can tell you there were a tremendous amount of lives saved," Ari said of the Iron Dome, a system for detecting launches, determining the rockets' trajectory and intercepting those that pose a threat with counter-missiles fired from strategically-located batteries.

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