Arma 3 Video Game Clip Viral As Israel's Iron Beam Defence System

A video showing missiles being intercepted in air by defensive missiles is being shared with the claim that it shows Israel's Iron Beam - a direct energy air defence system - in action.

BOOM found this claim to be false; the video has been taken from the video game Arma 3, and does not show a real life scenario.

Islamist militant group Hamas launched one of the biggest military offensives against Israel on October 7, 2023, garnering retributive attack from Israeli forces, with ongoing bombardments on the Gaza strip, and a complete blockade of the area by Israel. So far, the conflict has claimed more than 1400 lives in Israel, and more than 2450 Palestinians in Gaza. The conflict has also generated a massive disinformation campaign across social media platforms - BOOM has fact-checked more than 25 false or misleading claims related to this conflict since it began.

Several users on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook shared the video with the caption, "The New Iron beam in full display."

View such posts on X here, here and here.

View such posts on Facebook here, here and here.

Fact Check

Looking through the responses on a viral post on X, we found many users stating that the video does not show a real life scenario, but is instead taken from a video game called Arma 3.

Arma 3 footage have been used multiple times during past conflicts such as Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and falsely shared as real scenes from these respective conflicts.

BOOM did a reverse image search using a keyframe from the viral video, which led us to a uploaded on YouTube on October 11, 2023 with the title, "Iron Dome in Action! Overwhelmed - Massive Rocket Barrage - Military Simulation - ArmA 3"

The portion of the YouTube video going viral can be seen from the 3:57 mark of the video.

The video was shared by the channel Compared Comparisons, which states in its bio, "Creating modern cinematic military films using ArmA 3 and DCS as the engine to create the stories and simulations."