US army will buy Israel’s Iron Dome system

The United State army is set to purchase Israel’s Iron Dome short range missile defence system, according to Israeli news site Globes.

According to the report, the American military will “procure an unspecified number of Israel’s Iron Dome short range missile defence systems” from its developer Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd. for “immediate needs”, citing an announcement by Israel’s Ministry of Defence.

Globes said this will be “the first-ever export deal for Iron Dome agreed by Israel”.

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Israeli authorities revealed that “Iron Dome will undergo trials for deployment as a system for defending US forces overseas from a wide range of ballistic and airborne threats and in the long-term it will be tested for wider use,” the report added.

Acting Defence Minister and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “This is a great achievement for Israel and another manifestation of the deepening of our steadfast alliance with the US, and an expression of Israel’s rising status in the world.”

US Army Colnel Patrick Seiber told CNN: “The Iron Dome will be assessed and experimented as a system that is currently available to protect deployed US military service members against a wide variety of indirect fire threats and aerial threats.”