The two Iron Dome air defense batteries the U.S. is providing to Israel are “in transit” right now, an Army official confirmed on Tuesday, noting the systems are being leased from the Pentagon for 11 months with an option to buy the capabilities at the end of that period.
Doug Bush, the Army’s top acquisition official, told reporters that leasing the Iron Dome systems to Israel for a “relatively small amount of money” under a Foreign Military Sales case was the fastest way to send the capabilities.
“It could become a case where they decide to just keep the systems and pay us for them or we can come up with some other arrangement at the end of this initial 11-month period depending on factors on the ground. But it was the fastest way to do it. That’s why we went with that,” Bush said.
Bush said details related to Israel’s potential purchase of the U.S.-provided Iron Dome systems at the end of the lease period have not been finalized yet.
The Pentagon confirmed in late October the U.S. would plan on providing two Iron Dome batteries to Israel, as the department continued to provide Israel with weapons aid in the wake of Hamas’ incursion on October 7 and as the country pursues a ground invasion of Gaza (Defense Daily, Oct. 26).
“In addition to the security assistance to Israel that we’ve announced previously, I can confirm that, in addition to the Iron Dome interceptors we’re flowing to Israel, we’re also planning to provide the two U.S. Iron Dome systems currently in our inventory to Israel to help further bolster their air defense capabilities and protect citizens from rocket attacks,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters.
Bush said on Tuesday most of the interceptors for Iron Dome that the U.S. is providing to Israel have already arrived.
The U.S. Army acquired the two Iron Dome systems, developed by Israel’s Rafael and Israel Aerospace Industries and with the U.S.-based RTX [RTX] building its Tamir interceptors, per a directive in the fiscal year 2019 defense authorization bill, with the goal for the system to serve as an interim cruise missile defense system while it continues pursuing a long-term solution, the Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2.