Tel Aviv: It was a big surprise for the Israeli defence establishment, after the Rafael Iron Dome combat proven air defence systems lost in a tender issued by the US Army.

In spite of the fact that two Iron Dome systems were purchased by the US Army and recently proved their efficiency in a test performed in the US, the US Army selected the competitor’s systems.

Last week the US Army announced that it had selected a different rocket defence system in a tender worth billions of dollars. The winning system is being developed by US company Dynetics, in partnership with Raytheon Technologies. Raytheon is the American partner of Rafael in the Iron Dome program.

“This selection is strange, very strange. A combat proven systems like the Iron Dome that has also proved its capability in the US, loses such a tender. This selection is not based in any way on the performance matrix,” an Israeli source said.

While Raytheon is prime contractor in the Iron Dome program, it is sub-contractor for the selected system while Dynetics is the prime contractor.

Officially Rafael was reluctant to comment but sources said that it plans to try and change the selection.