US Marines to purchase 3 Israeli Iron Dome batteries
The US Marine Corps has wanted to buy Iron Dome since 2020
The United States Marine Corps announced on Thursday that it plans to buy three batteries of Iron Dome systems from Israeli manufacturer Rafael, including 44 launchers and 1,840 Tamir interceptor missiles, at an estimated price of around $200 million, according to a report from The Drive.
The Marine Corps has been in talks to acquire the Israeli aerial defense system since 2020 and intends to use it to protect its troops from cruise missiles, drones, rockets and artillery attacks.
The deal will include three batteries of what the Marines call Medium Range Intercept Capability (MRIC), “consisting of 1,840 Tamir missiles, 44 Expeditionary launchers integrated with Iron Dome Missile Firing Unit Launch Control Electronics (LCE), 11 mini-Battle Management and Control (mBMC) systems with uplinks compatible with the LCE and integrated with expeditionary Command and Control (C2).”
The Marine Corps currently possesses a prototype MRIC system and will also acquire “80 Tamir missiles to support the initial MRIC Prototype deployment,” as well as “logistics and technical support” for all of these systems.
The reported unit cost for the Tamir missiles is estimated to be somewhere between $40,000 and $100,000, a very low figure compared to other surface-to-air missiles.
Israel primarily uses the Iron Dome to protect citizens in residential areas against rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, mainly short-range ballistic rockets.
The Marine Corps plans to use Iron Dome to “defend... sites primarily against subsonic/supersonic Cruise Missiles (CM)” and “against other aerial threats that enter into its engagement zone,” according to their 2022 Aviation Plan.
In June, the Marine Corps announced it had conducted two successful live-fire tests of its prototype MRIC system against mock targets representing cruise missile threats.
On Aug. 17, the U.S. government approved the sale of another Israeli air defense system, the Arrow-3, to Germany.
The agreement to sell the missile defense system, jointly developed by the U.S. and Israel, represents the Jewish state’s largest-ever weapons deal at approximately $3.5 billion.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
