The US Army has officially taken delivery of the first of two Iron Dome batteries from the Israeli defense ministry.
The system was handed over at Rafael’s Iron Dome production line after US trucks used to support Iron Dome battery testing arrived in Israel in August this year.
The Oshkosh military trucks will be mated with the Iron Dome missile defense system before they are shipped to the US this year.
Israel’s defense ministry said the second battery would be delivered “in the coming weeks”.
“The Iron Dome system which will serve the US military is tailored according to U.S. requirements,” Rafael EVP & head of air and missile defense division, Pini Yungman, said at the delivery ceremony. “We began the project with a series of tests and demonstrations in the ‘White Sands’ testing field in the US. To date, we have conducted three demonstrations and intercepted targets chosen by the US Army for the Iron Dome system.”
The US Army is being the Iron Dome systems under a $300 million contract from August 2019. Earlier this year, Israeli defense contractor Rafael and its US counterpart Raytheon entered into an agreement for the establishment of an Iron Dome production facility in the United States. The new facility will produce both the Iron Dome weapon system, which consists of the Tamir interceptor and launcher, and the SkyHunter missile, a US derivative of Tamir. Both Tamir and SkyHunter intercept incoming cruise missiles, unmanned aerial systems and short-range targets such as rockets, artillery, mortars and other aerial threats.
