The U.S. Army has finalized a deal to bring Israel’s famed Iron Dome defense system to the United States to help protect against cruise missile threats.
The agreement to buy two Iron Dome batteries for $373 million was first rumored in January, with the system reportedly beating out Norwegian and American alternatives for short-range air defense in a Pentagon review.
The batteries will be part of the Army’s Indirect Fires Protection Capability program, which aims to defend against enemy missiles, rockets, drones, and artillery. Should the Iron Dome prove effective, more batteries could be purchased with the $1.7 billion earmarked for the project.
“We’re conducting analysis and experimentation for enduring IFPC,” Daryl Youngman, the deputy director of the Air and Missile Defense Cross Functional Team, told Defense News. “So that includes some engineering-level analysis and simulations to determine the performance of multiple options, including Iron Dome — or pieces of Iron Dome — and then how we integrate all of that.”
Iron Dome, a joint venture between U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and Israel’s Rafael, became famous after the Israel Defense Forces used it to shoot down incoming rockets and projectiles fired into Israeli territory by terrorist groups in the Palestinian territories. The system came online in 2011 and intercepted 1,500 targets by April 2016. During a 2012 conflict with Hamas, Israel said Iron Dome was 90% successful in shooting down rockets that threatened population centers.
American officials hope that success can be replicated against more advanced threats, specifically cruise missiles. Lawmakers, defense officials, and national security experts have warned that the United States is falling behind in missile defense, as adversaries such as China and Russia build up their arsenals and invest in new technologies such as hypersonic missiles that can theoretically defeat current defense systems.
A nuclear explosion off Russia’s northern coast Thursday is believed to have been caused by a botched missile test. The missile, which NATO calls “Skyfall,” is thought to be a new model powered by a small nuclear reactor, making it capable of traveling across the globe. Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled the weapon in March 2018, declaring it renders defense systems “useless.” President Trump weighed in on the issue Monday, claiming the United States has similar capabilities in the works.
