The U.S. Army will purchase two Israeli Iron Dome rocket defence systems

The U.S. Army will purchase two Israeli Iron Dome rocket defence systems

JERUSALEM, Israel (BulgarianMilitary.com) – The U.S. Army has decided to purchase two Israeli made Iron Dome rocket defence systems. The acquisition is defined as urgent and the systems will be supplied next year, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.

The Iron Dome has been demonstrated in the U.S. two years ago. Since then U.S. experts visited the Israeli deployed batteries and examined the actual intercepts of the system, mainly of rockets launched from Gaza.

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The U.S. Army has asked the Congress to approve a $ 373 million budget for the purchase of two batteries of Rafael’s successful interception system.

The urgent acquisition plan is based on the need to protect U.S. forces around the world from rockets used mainly by terror organizations.

Iron Dome is a mobile all-weather air defence system, developed by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems. The system is designed to intercept and destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 2.5 mi to 43 mi away and whose trajectory would take them to a populated area.

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Israel hopes to increase the range of Iron Dome’s interceptions.

The effort is also intended to make it more versatile so that it could intercept rockets coming from two directions simultaneously.

In recent clashes in the Gaza region the Iron Dome achieved a kill rate of over 85%.

In 2014, Raytheon began providing a second source of subcomponents for the Iron Dome’s Tamir missile.

Each battery includes three to four stationary launchers with 20 Tamir missiles and a battlefield radar. Tamir missiles feature electro-optical sensors and steering fins with proximity fuze blast warheads.

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Each of the Iron Dome batteries can defend up to nearly 60 square miles, but the systems are strategically placed around cities to intercept threats headed toward populated areas and ignore those fired at uninhabited regions.

The Iron Dome Weapon System is a key part of Israeli multi-layered defence, providing the lowest layer of its air and missile defence system.

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Source: Arie Egozi – BulgarianMilitary.com`correspondent