Army executes Iron Dome Defense System

The Army has two Iron Dome batteries. (David Huskey/DVIDS)

WASHINGTON: The Rafael-made Iron Dome system successfully defeated cruise missile and unmanned aerial system surrogates during a recent test with the US Army at White Sands Missile Range, the Israeli company announced today.

The Army currently has two Iron Dome batteries, which it calls Iron Dome Defense System, that are designated as its incremental cruise missile defense system while the service develops its Indirect Fires Protection Capability (IFPC), one of its top 35 modernization priorities. The service received the first Iron Dome system in 2020.

According to a Rafael press release, soldiers with the Army’s third battalion of the 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment “successfully detected, tracked, and intercepted multiple CM and UAS surrogate targets.” Pini Yungman, executive vice president and head of the company’s air and missile defense directorate, added that US soldiers used the system against a “variety of threats and intercepted targets from different ranges.”

According to a statement from Moshe Patel, the director of the Israeli Missile Defense Organization, Iron Dome intercepted “all the threats” and was interoperable with US systems. He also said it was the second test of Iron Dome with the Army.

The Army hasn’t publicly announced where it plans to place its two Iron Dome batteries; however, fiscal 2023 budget books show that the Army plans for one to be located overseas, while the other will stay stateside for “rapid deployment.” In the Rafael statement, Maj. Gen. Brian Gibson, who recently left his post at the Army’s Air and Missile Defense Cross-Functional Team, said that part of the goal was ensuring the system can be integrated into the Army’s current air defenses.

“It’s important to understand that implementation for the U.S. is about the ability to integrate this system into our air defense picture,” said Gibson, now the commander of 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command. “We need to integrate this into our U.S. architecture, and to give confidence to our regional commanders that we can integrate this system safely into what they have.”

The Iron Dome capability will help soldiers at fixed and semi-fixed locations defeat incoming cruise missiles, rockets, artillery, mortars and group two and three unmanned aircraft. Last October, the Army sent a battery to Guam, fulfilling a congressional mandate to deploy the system to an operational theater by the end of last year.

Rafael and Raytheon submitted an upgraded version of Iron Dome to the Army for its IFPC program, but the service awarded the $237 million contract to Leidos subsidiary Dynetics following a shoot-off. The first battery of prototype launchers are expected to be delivered to the Army in the fourth quarter of FY23.

The US Marine Corps also recently tested components of Iron Dome during testing for the service’s Medium-Range Intercept Capability, designated for Marine Littoral Regiments. The prototype included Iron Dome’s ground launcher and Tamir interceptor missiles.

“We needed a longer-range air defense capability to be able to cover these highly mobile units (Marine Littoral Regiments),” Gen. Eric Smith, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps said last month. “We asked for a wicked solution to a wicked problem. High mobility, lightweight and much longer range. And MRIC provided that to us.”