Tel Aviv. Israel has begun the transfer of the Rafael Iron Dome rocket interception system to the US army. On August 3, an Antonov 225 cargo aircraft landed at Ben Gurion international airport. The aircraft off loaded a number of Oskosh trucks that will carry some subsystems of the Iron Dome.

The last interception of the Iron Dome systems occurred on August 2 when a rocket was launched from Gaza to hit Sderot, a city in Southern Israel. The rocket was intercepted by an Iron Dome battery deployed in the area.

Two Iron Dome batteries will go through initial testing on American soil, says a top air defender adding before that short-range air defence system can be fielded to army formations.

The army plans to begin phased testing of the systems, as the missiles, launchers and radar go from the assembly line in Israel to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to undergo an equipment fielding and training programme. The batteries are scheduled to arrive in December 2020 and February 2021.

The US army plans to integrate it into the Army’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense, or AIAMD, framework.

Iron Dome is a multi-purpose combat proven system that detects, assesses and intercepts incoming artillery such as: C-RAM, Cruise Missiles, Precise Guided Missiles (PGM), UAVs, Air Breathing Threats (ABTs) and dense salvos.

SkyHunter is the US version of the Iron Dome system Tamir interceptor that will be integrated into the US army’s Multi-Mission Launcher (MML) and other V-SHORAD systems.

In early August, a Raytheon Technologies subsidiary Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems signed a joint venture agreement to establish an Iron Dome Weapon System production facility in the United States. The new partnership, called Raytheon RAFAEL Area Protection Systems, anticipates finalising a site location before the end of the year.

–The writer is an Israel based freelance journalist.