WASHINGTON — Rafael Systems Global Sustainment (RSGS) announced today it was selected for Phase I of the Army’s second Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) Increment 2 interceptor program, joining the pack with Lockheed Martin and the Boeing-Anduril team.
“We are honored to be selected for this critical phase of IFPC Inc 2,” RSGS CEO Joe Anderson said in a company statement today. “This selection reflects the Army’s confidence in our capabilities and our commitment to delivering advanced, reliable solutions to protect U.S. warfighters.”
An industry source confirmed to Breaking Defense that Rafael’s new solution revolves around an updated version of the Tamir missile. Meanwhile, Rafael and RTX have established a new facility in Arkansas to churn out Tamir and its US-variant SkyHunter missiles. RSGS is the US-based subsidiary for Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.
Today’s announcement comes more than two years after the Army began hunting for a second interceptor for its developmental IFPC Inc 2 launcher. The Army awarded the current IFPC Inc 2 deal to Dynetics, a Leidos subsidiary, and RTX in late 2024. That mashup included a new developmental launcher called Enduring Shield, paired with a ground-launched AIM-9X Sidewinder.
The Dynetics-RTX team beat out a Rafael-RTX team that’s bid revolved around a version of the Israeli Iron Dome system with the Tamir missile. Over the years, the service has flagged security concerns with integrating components of Israel’s Iron Dome into its larger air defense architecture, a challenge the US Marine Corps said it did not face with its Medium-Range Intercept Capability (MRIC) program.
As the new Army IFPC Inc 2 program moved ahead with the Enduring Shield, service officials discovered that soldiers would need a second “more capable” interceptor to target lower flying, supersonic cruise missiles, then-Brig. Gen. Frank Lozano, the service’s Program Executive Officer for Missiles and Space at the time, told Breaking Defense in June 2024. (Lozano now has a third star and is the service’s Program Acquisition Executive of Fires, which oversees the IFPC program).
Rafael’s announcement comes after Lockheed Martin announced the Army awarded the company an Other Transaction Authority for its second IFPC Inc 2 program in October. Nearly two months later, Boeing and Anduril announced their team’s solution was also selected by the Army to move forward into Phase I of the IFPC Inc 2 second interceptor competition, with Anduril supplying the solid rocket motor for the interceptor.
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As Boeing laid out in its announcement, the Army plans to choose which companies will move forward to the prototyping stage later this year.
The Army did not respond to a request for comment regarding when such a decision will be made or when the final award is scheduled to be announced. However, Breaking Defense reported in 2024 that the Army was planning on fielding the platforms at the beginning of next decade.
UPDATED 2/9/2026 at 3:45 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to clarify that Rafael Systems Global Sustainment, a US-based subsidiary and authorized broker for Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, secured the deal.