The US Marine Corps is planning to acquire the Israeli-made Iron Dome defense system.
According to the information appeared in a US government procurement website, the Marines would be looking to get three batteries, comprising 44 expeditionary launchers together with 1,840 Tamir missiles and 11 US-developed control centers. Another 80 missiles would be acquired for the prototype system.
The US military has already been looking to acquire the combat-proven Iron Dome system for quite some time. Two launchers were sent from Israel and have been conducting tests in the US since 2021, although the US hasn’t fully integrated it yet with its own aerial defense systems.
Rather than buying off-the-shelf from Israel’s Rafael, though, the Marines aim to integrate the missile launchers with US-made control centers, the so-called “mini-Battle Management and Control systems” (mBMC). The whole system has been designated by the US military as Medium-Range Intercept Capability (MRIC).
The deal, whose exact amount is not disclosed but runs likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars, will be channeled through US defense firm Raytheon, which is a partner of Rafael.
The Iron Dome, which provides the short range component of Israel’s multi-layered anti-missile defense umbrella, has demonstrated its capabilities on numerous occasions, shielding Israel’s population centers from rockets launched from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. Its manufacturer, Rafael, claims a 90% interception success rate for the Iron Dome.