What is Iron Dome?

If you've been following the news coverage of the Israeli Defense Forces' Operation "Pillar of Cloud" in Gaza, you probably heard about something called "Iron Dome," as seen in this recently uploaded video that's been making the rounds in the news. Iron Dome is the Israeli military's mobile air defense system designed to track, intercept and destroy short-range rockets or artillery shells launched from distances as far as 43 miles away (shown left). Since the beginning of the hostile exchange two days ago, the system has managed to shoot down at least 184 rockets out of nearly 500 that had been fired into Israeli territories, which isn't the highest performance record in its service history, but still, not too shabby.