Can Israel defend itself against this new threat?
By Hezy Laing
The Sejjil is a two-stage, solid-fuel medium-range ballistic missile developed by Iran that boasts a striking range of 2,000 to 2,500 kilometers and a top speed reaching supersonic levels.
Iranian military officials and state media outlets like the Fars News Agency have long boasted that the composite solid-propellant Sejil system, measuring roughly 25 meters in length and 1.25 meters in diameter with a total weight of 23 metric tonnes, can travel from launch sites near locations like Natanz to hit Tel Aviv in approximately seven minutes.
Because it utilizes solid-fuel technology rather than older liquid-fueled systems like the Shahab-3, the Sejil permits rapid preparation and variable-angle launch capabilities, drastically reducing pre-launch warning times and complicating early detection by regional adversaries.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps first integrated the missile into active operational waves during mid-2025 and 2026 escalations, such as Operation True Promise variants, aiming payload capacities of up to 700 to 1,000 kilograms toward strategic Israeli military infrastructure.
Despite the compressed flight duration and high maneuverability of these ultra-heavy projectiles, Israel faces the threat equipped with a multi-layered air defense architecture.
The IDF utilizes advanced interception frameworks including the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems specifically designed exoatmospheric and endoatmospheric interception of long-range ballistic trajectories.
During previous operational deployments of the Sejil in June 2025 and March 2026, Israeli air defense batteries successfully tracked and intercepted incoming payloads, limiting ground impacts mostly to minor fragmentation damage on civilian infrastructure and vehicles.
Continuous intelligence sharing with United States assets in the region further enhances early radar tracking, blunting the tactical advantage of Iran’s rapid-launch solid-fuel arsenal.
