Iron Dome unsuitable as missile shield for US or Europe, officials say

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Creating an Iron Dome defensive umbrella for the United States or Europe, modeled after Israel’s eponymous system, would be unsuitable against the threat of long-range missiles, according to industry executives here at the IDEX defense fair.

The assessment follows plans by the Trump administration to field such a system under the Iron Dome label. The U.S. president signed an executive order to that effect last month, with the goal of thwarting ballistic, hypersonic, and advanced cruise missiles.

While the idea quickly gained momentum among Republican lawmakers who introduced the Iron Dome Act on Feb. 6, it has also come under criticism by experts and industry officials who argue that deploying such a system would be unrealistic given what it was designed for.

“Iron Dome for America is a bad name for it — what about Titanium Dome?” Dave Alexander, the president of drone maker General Atomics quipped in an interview on the IDEX trade show floor.

Iron Dome was developed by the Israeli firm Rafael with Washington’s support. The majority of the components of the Tamir interceptor missiles that the Iron Dome fires are sourced through RTX’s, formerly Raytheon, U.S. supply chain.

Retired Brig. Gen. Shachar Shohat, vice president of business development in the air and missile defense division at Rafael, acknowledged that as countries have latched on to the branding of Iron Dome, there is confusion around its purpose.

“We need to differentiate between the Iron Dome, which is a short to medium-range range system — it became a brand name like Coca Cola that now everybody uses as it is highly successful,” he said in an interview with Defense News. But, Shohat added, Israel’s multilayered air-defense doctrine is about more than one system.

The Israeli weapon can neutralize threats launched from ranges between 4-70 kilometers, per the RTX website. A total of ten Iron Dome batteries are deployed in Israel, each able to protect approximately 60 square miles of territory.

For perspective, the U.S. territory spans an area of 3.8 million square miles, which would theoretically require tens of thousands of Iron Domes to effectively protect the country’s population and infrastructure.

In a December interview, Adm. Pierre Vandier, NATO’s top commander for transformation, similarly called the Iron Dome for Europe “unfeasible” if the goal is to intercept long-range threats.

The Rafael executive said the system could nevertheless be part of multilayered defenses to protect key sites and maneuver forces.

With that use case in mind, Shohat said that the company has seen “big demand” for Iron Dome specifically, including in Europe.

Last year, Greek officials said they were in negotiations with Israel to develop an anti-aircraft and missile defense dome that would mimic the capabilities of the Israeli system.

Meanwhile, General Atomics claims to have developed a technology for fusing early-warning sensor data over vast areas that could power a patchwork of Iron Dome-like installations. The system has already been tested and deployed in an unspecified location, Alexander said.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

阿联酋阿布扎比——据参加阿布扎比国际防务展（IDEX）的业内高管称，为美国或欧洲打造一个以以色列同名系统为蓝本的“铁穹”防御系统，并不适合抵御远程导弹的威胁。

此次评估是在特朗普政府计划部署名为“铁穹”的此类系统之后进行的。美国总统上个月签署了一项行政命令，旨在阻止弹道导弹、高超音速导弹和先进巡航导弹的攻击。

虽然这一想法在2月6日提出《铁穹法案》的共和党议员中迅速获得支持，但也受到了专家和行业官员的批评，他们认为，考虑到该系统的设计用途，部署这样的系统是不现实的。

“‘美国铁穹’这个名字太糟糕了——‘钛穹’怎么样？”无人机制造商通用原子公司总裁戴夫·亚历山大在IDEX贸易展现场接受采访时打趣道。

“铁穹”系统由以色列拉斐尔公司在华盛顿的支持下研发。该系统发射的“塔米尔”拦截导弹的大部分部件都来自RTX公司（前身为雷神公司）的美国供应链。

拉斐尔公司空天导弹防御部门业务发展副总裁、退役准将沙查尔·肖哈特承认，随着各国纷纷采用“铁穹”这一品牌，人们对其用途产生了困惑。

“我们需要区分‘铁穹’系统，它是一种中短程防空系统——它就像可口可乐一样，已经成为一个家喻户晓的品牌，因为它非常成功，”他在接受《防务新闻》采访时说道。但肖哈特补充说，以色列的多层次防空理论不仅仅包含这一个系统。

据RTX网站介绍，以色列的这种武器可以拦截4至70公里范围内发射的威胁。以色列共部署了十套“铁穹”防御系统，每套系统能够保护约60平方英里的领土。

从这个角度来看，美国领土面积达 380 万平方英里，理论上需要数万个“铁穹”才能有效保护该国的人口和基础设施。

北约转型最高指挥官皮埃尔·范迪​​耶海军上将在 12 月的一次采访中也表示，如果目标是拦截远程威胁，那么欧洲的“铁穹”系统是“不可行的”。

拉斐尔公司的一位高管表示，该系统仍然可以作为多层防御系统的一部分，用于保护关键地点和机动部队。

考虑到这种应用场景，Shohat 表示，该公司已经看到对 Iron Dome 的“巨大需求”，尤其是在欧洲。

去年，希腊官员表示，他们正在与以色列谈判，以开发一种防空和导弹防御穹顶，该穹顶将模仿以色列系统的能力。

与此同时，通用原子公司声称已开发出一种能够融合大范围早期预警传感器数据的技术，可为类似“铁穹”的多个防御设施提供动力。亚历山大表示，该系统已在某未公开地点进行测试和部署。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。