The Pentagon has devised a plan to return two previously acquired Iron Dome missile defense systems to Israel to meet its missile defense requirements, as reported by a US official and a congressional aide.
During a briefing conducted on Wednesday, the Department of Defense communicated its intention to lease the Iron Dome systems back to Israel, with ownership retained by the buyer in this financial arrangement, as shared by the US official and a congressional aide to Reuters. The transfer of these systems back to Israel is expected to occur within a matter of days, as indicated by the congressional aide.
It’s noteworthy that the Pentagon had been exploring and testing these systems as potential defenses against Chinese missiles, specifically for safeguarding Guam’s territory.
In another development, the White House expressed its unwavering commitment on Monday to promptly meet additional security requests from Israel. President Biden pledged to supply replenishments for the interceptors used in Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, along with ammunition, and to increase the presence of the US military in the region.
The Iron Dome system, developed with support from the US by the state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, was created to counter rocket attacks during the 2006 war with Hezbollah from Lebanon and to protect against threats from Palestinian territories in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas took control in 2007. The system became operational in 2011.
Furthermore, in August 2022, Israel reported that the Iron Dome interceptors had successfully shot down 97% of the Palestinian rockets they engaged in during a surge of fighting in Gaza over a weekend.
