As more than 850 Iranian ballistic missiles were launched at Israel during Operation “Rising Lion,” a little-known team inside the Defense Ministry’s classified Homa Administration found itself at the center of one of the war’s most critical missions.

In an exclusive interview with Walla, officers from the Homa Administration described how engineers rushed to missile impact sites across Israel in search of critical Iranian missile components—what they referred to as the “smoking gun.” Those recovered parts were rapidly analyzed and incorporated into Israel’s missile defense systems, allowing engineers to improve detection, identification, interception, and interceptor production while the fighting was still underway.

According to the officers, the operation became the ultimate test of decades of investment in Israel’s multi-layered missile defense network, including Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow, and additional classified programs. During the campaign, Iran launched more than 850 ballistic missiles at Israel. Officials said the operation achieved an interception rate of approximately 90%, although 44 Israelis were killed, including 23 in direct missile impacts, while thousands more were evacuated to hospitals with varying degrees of injuries.

One officer recounted traveling across the country—including on Shabbos and Yom Tov—to recover specific missile fragments alongside investigators from the Israeli Air Force, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), and Tomer, the company that manufactures Arrow interceptor motors. In one case, locating a single missile component described as the “smoking gun” enabled investigators to identify and solve a significant technical problem that later influenced both interceptor development and production.

The officers said interceptor manufacturing continued throughout the war as Defense Minister Yisrael Katz and Defense Ministry Director-General Amir Baram directed the defense establishment to accelerate and significantly expand production while increasing Israeli-made manufacturing capacity. At the same time, engineers continuously investigated operational performance and rapidly incorporated battlefield lessons into the systems.

Officials said every interception—and every missile that penetrated Israel’s defenses—was immediately analyzed, with findings shared among engineers, defense industries, and the Israeli Air Force to implement improvements as quickly as possible. They emphasized that intelligence and advanced technology were combined throughout the campaign in an ongoing effort to improve performance.

The officers also credited unprecedented cooperation with the U.S. military as one of the operation’s greatest achievements. American air defense systems deployed in Israel worked in close coordination with Israeli forces, enabling joint management of missile interceptions, shared operational planning, and real-time investigations that they described as reaching an exceptionally high level of cooperation.

According to the officers, American willingness to share technical information has expanded significantly in recent years, allowing both militaries to coordinate their air defense systems more effectively than ever before. They said this cooperation contributed to more efficient use of interceptors and higher overall interception performance compared with previous rounds of fighting.

Despite the success, the officers stressed that no missile defense system is hermetic and that every successful Iranian strike carried a painful human cost. Each incident immediately triggered investigations aimed at identifying lessons and implementing improvements before the next wave of attacks.

They said the Homa Administration serves as the central hub connecting battlefield data, intelligence, the Israeli Air Force, American partners, defense engineers, and Israel’s defense industries, allowing operational lessons to be translated into system improvements in real time—even during active combat.

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