Tests of the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system were completed and its first two batteries will be ready for deployment by November
Last week, the Ministry of Defense’s Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure (ADWTI), Israeli Air Force’s anti-aircraft forces and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. which developed the Iron Dome, held a final comprehensive series of fully operational interception tests in coordination with other systems already used by the IAF and its anti-aircraft battalion.
Within the frameworks of the tests which were held in a southern test field, the Iron Dome system had to confront for the first time ever a large number of simultaneous threats. The new defense system successfully intercepted every single missile.
The testing phase was the final stage in the development of the Iron Dome systems, under the supervision on the ADWTI and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd teams. According to the projected schedule, the new defense system should be operational by November and will be operated by a new battalion recently established in the IAF’s Air Defense Division for this purpose.
The series of tests conducted in the South this week included a full systems test of all of the components of the entire Iron Dome System being integrated with different Air Force and Anti-Missile systems, and during these tests, multiple incoming targets of various types were destroyed. During the course of these tests, the defense system discovered a high number of various threats, monitored them, evaluated their trajectories, rearranged the interceptors’ trajectories and launched the interceptors which all hit their targets. All of the systems worked properly in coordination with the other IAF systems and all the threats were destroyed as planned.
All of the Iron Dome’s different components were analyzed during these tests, including the radar system which was manufactured by Elta Systems Ltd, the Command and Control system which was manufactured by mPrest Systems Ltd, and the interceptor launcher manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd.
The Iron Dome system was designed to protect the State of Israel from short-range missiles and rockets, and was developed under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense’s ADWTI as a part of the multi-layered defense program that includes the David’s Sling anti-missile system for mid-range missiles and the Arrow system for defense against long-range missiles.
Defense Minister: “This is an important milestone for the security system”
Upon completion of the tests, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that “this is an important milestone for the security system and the defense industries that conducted the development of the Iron Dome system in such a short period of time, which is something only seen in technological developments. We will move towards operational deployment of these batteries to the field as soon as possible.”
Defense Ministry Director General, Maj. Gen. (res.) Udi Shani, thanked the ADWTI members for working tirelessly along with defense industries personnel during the past two years for the development of the system. “The successful final test of the Iron Dome will increase the orders of batteries, and this will allow a maximum deployment in the field”, Shani said.
