The U.S. is planning to provide Israel with two batteries of the Iron Dome air defense system, the Pentagon confirmed on Thursday.
“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.
Ryder said the Pentagon is not providing details on the delivery times for the two Iron Dome systems to arrive in Israel due to “operations security reasons.”
“We’ll defer to Israel to make any announcements regarding future deployment and use of these [Iron Dome] systems,” Ryder said.
The plan to transfer the Iron Dome batteries, first reported by Reuters, arrives as the U.S. continues to provide Israel with weapons aid in the wake of Hamas’ incursion on October 7 and as the country prepares for a potential ground invasion of Gaza.
Military equipment transfers to Israel have included 155mm artillery ammunition, Joint Direct Attack Munitions, small diameter bombs as well as interceptors for its currently fielded Iron Dome batteries.
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.