Canceling Israel's Iron Dome Purchase, US Chooses Enduring Shield Anti-Air Attack System

JAKARTA - The United States (US) military decided to choose the Dynetics Enduring Shield anti-air weapon system instead of the Iron Dome after testing the capabilities of both, Defense News said.

The US Army conducted live-fire tests of both weapon systems at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. As a result, Dynetics was able to defeat Iron Dome.

Quoting The Jerusalem Post August 25, the Dynetics system called Enduring Shield, is capable of 360-degree detection and can fire multiple threats simultaneously. The system is easy to operate and can be fully integrated with the Army's Integrated Air and Missile Defense Combat Command System.

The Israeli Defense Ministry and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems told The Jerusalem Post they would not comment on the Defense News report, but if confirmed, it would be expected to be a significant setback for the ministry.

However, according to a report in Calcalist, the average price of an Iron Dome system is around NIS 27 million or US$8.400,000. Israel Aerospace Industries says each system is customized as needed, and therefore does not have a fixed price.

IAI, which manufactures radars for Iron Dome, made a record $4.2 billion in 2020 in international sales of multi-mission radars. About 150 MMR radars, the brains of the system, have been sold to customers around the world, Calclist said.

The US Army purchased two ready-to-use batteries from Rafael in August 2019 which were delivered in late 2020. Since then, the US Army is in the process of inspecting and building a training system for the batteries.

The battery purchases include 12 launchers, two sensors, two battle management centers, and 240 interceptors.

Earlier, the US Army completed a test-fire of the first Iron Dome missile defense battery purchased by the United States.

According to a statement issued by Israel's Ministry of Defense, the Iron Dome system in the American configuration is expected "to protect deployed American forces from various aerial threats, including cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, rockets, and shrapnel."

Previously, Uncle Sam's country already had the THAAD anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to intercept and destroy short, medium, and medium-range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase. However, it does not yet have a short-range air defense solution.