Israeli, US defense firms announce plans for US production of Iron Dome

(JNS) - Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. announced on Monday that they have agreed to establish a joint venture to produce Iron Dome weapon systems in the United States.

Under the name Raytheon Rafael Area Protection Systems, the partnership will produce both the Iron Dome weapon system, which consists of the Tamir interceptor and launcher, and the SkyHunter missile, a U.S. derivative of the Tamir. The two firms expect to agree on a site location by the end of 2020.

IDF Brig. Gen. (res.) Pini Yungman, executive vice president for air and missile defense at Rafael, said "we are excited about this new stage in our partnership with Raytheon and proud of our U.S. production."

Yungman said that Rafael and Raytheon had "long partnered on U.S. production of Iron Dome and are pleased to increase manufacturing and bring SkyHunter to the U.S."

Raytheon's vice president of land warfare and air-defense business execution Sam Deneke said that "this will be the first Iron Dome all-up-round facility outside of Israel, and it will help the U.S. Department of Defense and allies across the globe obtain the system for defense of their service members and critical infrastructure."

The Iron Dome air-defense system is "the world's most-used system with more than 2,500 operational intercepts and a success rate exceeding 90 percent," according to Rafael.