According to new reports, the US is slated to buy at least two batteries of Israel’s Iron Dome air-defense system that will protect soldiers in the field:
MILITARY.COM – The U.S. Army will buy the Israeli-made Iron Dome air-defense system to protect soldiers from indirect-fire threats on the battlefield.
“The U.S. Army has announced its intent to procure a limited number of Iron Dome weapon systems to fill its short-term need for an interim Indirect Fire Protection Capability,” Col. Patrick Seiber, spokesman for Army Futures Command, said Wednesday in a press release.
Air and missile defense is one of the Army’s top modernization priorities in an effort to replace its Big Five weapons platforms — which include the Patriot air defense system — by 2028.
“The Iron Dome will be assessed and experimented as a system that is currently available to protect deployed U.S. military service members against a wide variety of indirect-fire threats and aerial threats,” Seiber said in the statement.
It is reported to cost $1.6 billion for the next 5 years:
The Army statement did not provide details about how much it will pay for the Iron Dome systems.
Seiber told Military.com that the Army is proposing spending $1.6 billion through 2024 to field an enduring capability that may “componentize” portions of the Iron Dome system.
Inside Defense reported in early January that the Army will buy two Iron Dome batteries to provide ground forces an interim capability by 2020.
Seiber confirmed the two-battery buy for an “interim cruise missile defense capability as mandated in the FY19 DoD Appropriations Act.”
“Protection of our soldiers is paramount; they deserve the tools needed to fight, win and return home safely,” Seiber told Military.com. “Iron Dome is a combat-proven system that could be used to help protect our forces from a variety of indirect-fire and aerial threats.”
It sounds like this is only interim as the Army upgrades our own capabilities in this air-defense area in the next decade.
I do like seeing this kind of partnership between the US and Israel, as they are on the bleeding edge of this kind of technology. They really have to be considering the threats they face.