Israel allows the USA to deploy the Iron Dome air defense system in its military bases in the Persian Gulf, Europe, and the Far East. According to the report published in the Haaretz news.
Israeli officials are declining to give information about the countries in the Gulf to which America wants to deploy the system.
“The United States is expected to soon begin deploying Iron Dome missile interceptor batteries, one of the jewels of Israel’s arms manufacturing industry, in its bases in the Gulf States.” According to security officials.
The development comes against the backdrop of the Abraham Accords between Israel and the two Gulf States.
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What is the Abraham Accords?
Abraham Accords is a controversial US-brokered agreement between Israel and the UAE and Bahrain.
The agreement aimed to establish diplomatic ties between Israel and the two Gulf States, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.
The agreement was signed on 13 August 2020. It is considered as the first positive gesture of normalization of diplomatic relations between Israel and an Arab country since that of Jordan in 1994 and Egypt in 1979.
Iron Dome air defense system:
Iron Dome is a mobile-based, short-range, all-weather air defense system. It is developed by Israeli defense technology company, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. and Israel Aero Space Industries.
The Iron Dome is designed to intercept short-range rockets and artillery shells. Iron Dome has a range from 4 to 70 km.
How effective is the Iron Dome?
According to the Israeli defense officials, the Iron Dome success rate is between 87-90%. Which is considered as the extremely high level above that usually expected for air defense systems.
Why US need Iron Dome?
The Iron Dome air defense system is intended to defend US armed forces in the Gulf from attacks by Iran and its proxies. Officials said in a report.
According to the report, the US will deploy batteries in Eastern Europe out of concern Russia could try to attack US forces or strategic infrastructure in these countries.
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Isreal handed over the second Iron Dome battery to the US forces under a 2019 agreement between the two countries.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., the Israeli company which developed the system will open a production line in the US with Massachusetts-based defense contractor Raytheon Technologies Corp. to jointly produce air defense system batteries for the US military and other countries in Europe, the Gulf, and the far east.
Analysis:
After analyzing the reports and the statements of the officials, we can say that the US government decided to buy the system due to its effectiveness. It is also the battle zone tested system, which proves its competitiveness.
Sources:
- Article published in the Middle East Monitor
- Article published in the Bloomberg
- Article published in the Haaretz news
- Article published in the Wikipedia