It’s rare we see something we’ve truly never seen before and this video shot in Jordan of the night sky during Iran’s missile attack is definitely that.
It’s rare we see a video that is truly unique — a scene or thing that has never been captured before. One incredible example of just such a thing is a video that has surfaced out of Jordan, supposedly near Amman, of the night sky taken with an infrared camera. It captured Iran’s massive simultaneous ballistic missile barrage. In it, we see just how densely packed the sky was as these weapons careened toward their targets and Israel’s and the United States’ frantic work at countering as many as they could before they slammed into Israeli soil.
The video, taken by Zaid M. Al-Abbadi who takes beautiful photos and videos of the night sky, looks like an immense meteor shower in a fantastical sci-fi movie or the last scene in a film that depicts the apocalypse — natural or manmade. It’s both eerily beautiful and absolutely terrifying at the same time.
This version of the video, posted here on Facebook, is the best we have seen. It shows some of the mid-course interceptor launches out of Israel even before the ballistic missiles come into view:
Absolutely incredible footage of the ballistic missile engagement over Jordan and Israel, as filmed by Zaid Al-Abbadi from Amman during last night’s Iranian ballistic missile attack. pic.twitter.com/hi9ilJLvMa
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 2, 2024
Additional footage
Source- https://t.co/2yNENAdKTZ pic.twitter.com/8EsaEJ5Izd
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 2, 2024
The video is sped up about 10 times, but even then, just how fast this all occurred is dizzying. Also, this is just a portion of the sky, much occurred out of frame. Judging by the interceptor launches early on, this included at least some mid-course engagements. The higher volume of interceptors chewing away at the remarkably dense barrage were more likely to have been terminal ballistic missile interceptors, such as David’s Sling, THAAD (if a battery deployed in-country), and possibly SM-6, but that is questionable. Israel retired its Patriot missile batteries earlier this year. You can read a complete breakdown of Israel’s integrated air defense system here.
It is very challenging to get a firm estimate of how many missiles were seen flying to their targets and how many intercepts occurred, but the numbers are very large on both sides, with dozens of intercepts seen in the video.
The video made me immediately think of one of the most jaw-dropping set pieces in Andor:
There is also a tour-de-force in physics being displayed in chaotic fashion, with what appear to be collisions, failures and even ricochets depicted.
Above all else, this incredible video clearly displays what we long expected, that Iran would absolutely saturate the skies with a wall-like barrage of ballistic missiles in an attempt to overwhelm Israel’s robust defenses. This clearly worked, at least to a degree, but where those missiles actually landed and how much damage was done remains a glaring question. Significant, albeit not widespread damage is already appearing in satellite images of one of Israel’s key air bases. We also don’t know what other measures were used to throw the missiles off track, including any ‘left of launch tactics’ and GPS jamming/manipulation. Regardless, the video certainly shows the kinetic measures that were put into play by air defenders in a desperate attempt to whittle down the sheer mass of the barrage.
Nevatim is home to the Israeli Air Force’s most advanced aircraft, including U.S.-produced F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets. It is not clear from the satellite imagery whether any aircraft were in the hangar when it was struck. pic.twitter.com/6Wo1QwFrpP
— Michael Biesecker (@NewsDudeAP) October 2, 2024
Once again, we have never seen a sight like this and it stands out as a truly gripping display of aggression and the military technology that acts as a vehicle for it.
