Army executes Iron Dome Defense System

The Army has two Iron Dome batteries and will field both at JBLM. (David Huskey/DVIDS)

WASHINGTON — Soldiers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) in Washington will receive both of the US Army’s Iron Dome batteries, but the service hasn’t decided whether to actually deploy the system, a spokesperson said.

Following a Congressional mandate, the service purchased both Rafael-made batteries as an “interim” cruise missile defense capability and last year set out to decide which military installations should receive them. The verdict is in: Both will head to JBLM, a spokesperson for the Program Executive Officer (PEO) for Missiles and Space wrote in a Jan. 8 email to Breaking Defense.

Soldiers there have now learned to operate the first battery, and he noted that new equipment training on the second battery should be completed by the end of March. 

Beyond fielding, military leadership has not directed soldiers to deploy with the new Iron Dome Defense System – Army (IDDS-A) batteries. The service previously sent one battery to Guam for testing, however, and should the decision be made to deploy the capability, having both batteries based at JBLM would allow for one to be more easily deployed to the Indo-Pacific region.

“The Army appears to be keeping it accessible should the need arise in the Indo-Pacific region, for instance, but there’s a larger question about what really is going to be the future of these Iron Dome batteries,” said Tom Karako, a missile defense expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Iron Dome, developed in Israel, is primarily known for its successes downing short-range, unguided rockets, but has been used to counter cruise missiles, including in an Army test in 2022 where the system “successfully” defeated cruise missile and unmanned aerial system surrogates at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., according to Rafael.

Still, Army officials have resisted using Iron Dome as an “enduring” capability and instead selected Dynetics Enduring Shield launcher prototype paired with Raytheon’s ground-launched AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, for its Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2 (IFPC Inc 2) program.

At that time, those Army officials did not detail why they selected the Enduring Shield team but some previously raised cybersecurity concerns with Iron Dome, a problem the Marine Corps has said it does not share.

Accordingly, while the Army does expect Iron Dome to be “interoperable” with the Army’s legacy Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD C2), the service does not plan to integrate Iron Dome into its future integrated Air and Missile Defense’s Battle Command System (IBCS).

“[Iron Dome] will have the capability to receive fire direction from the FAAD C2,” the Army spokesperson wrote. “Beyond the current level of interoperability implemented between [Iron Dome] and FAAD C2, which provides a suitable level of air defense capability, the Army currently does not plan to perform a deeper level of integration between [Iron Dome] and IBCS since [Iron Dome] is only an interim system.”

He noted that the Army received the authorization to operate (ATO) Iron Dome in August 2022 and an updated ATO based on “implementation of interoperability” is expected to be released between April and June.