Israel may buy back Iron Dome air defense batteries leased from the US

WASHINGTON — Israel could buy the two U.S. Army-owned Iron Dome air defense batteries sent to the country when the current lease comes to an end next year, Army acquisition chief Doug Bush told reporters in a Nov. 7 briefing.

The U.S. is sending its two Iron Dome batteries to Israel to bolster the 10 it already has as Israel continues to fight Hamas. Air defense is critical as the terrorist group has launched the most massive and deadly coordinated attack in 50 years. Hamas continues to fire rockets from the Gaza Strip.

“It’s a lease for a relatively small amount of money for 11 months,” Bush said of the transaction now underway. “It could become a case where they decide to just keep the systems and pay for them. Or we could come up with some other arrangement at the end of this initial 11-month period depending on factors on the ground.”

The U.S. Army bought the two Iron Dome systems — manufactured by Israeli defense company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and co-developed by RTX — at the request of Congress several years ago. The purchase was meant to fill a gap in cruise missile defense while the Army developed a longer-term countermeasure for various air and missile threats. But the service doesn’t plan to purchase more Iron Domes or to integrate the system into its air defense architecture , Army officials have told Defense News

The service has scarcely used the two batteries at all. Army personnel trained with the Iron Dome systems at Fort Bliss, Texas, before one system deployed to Guam at the end of 2021 for a two-week exercise. Otherwise, the systems have sat with a unit at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.

Bush said the U.S. government used a lease mechanism to move as quickly as possible in getting the Iron Dome systems to Israel. The equipment is now “in transit,” he added, and most of the interceptors have already reached the country.

Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

华盛顿——美国陆军采购主管道格·布什在11月7日的新闻发布会上告诉记者，以色列可能会购买美国陆军拥有的两套“铁穹”防空系统，这两套系统将于明年目前的租约到期。

美国正向以色列增派两套“铁穹”防空系统，以加强以色列现有的10套系统，助力以色列继续打击哈马斯。防空至关重要，因为该恐怖组织发动了50年来规模最大、伤亡最惨重的协同攻击。哈马斯持续从加沙地带发射火箭弹。

布什谈到目前正在进行的交易时说：“这是一份为期11个月、金额相对较小的租赁合同。他们可能会决定保留这些系统并支付费用。或者，我们可能会根据实际情况，在最初的11个月期满后达成其他安排。”

几年前，应国会要求，美国陆军购买了两套“铁穹”系统——由以色列国防公司拉斐尔先进防御系统公司制造，并由RTX公司联合开发。此次采购旨在填补巡航导弹防御方面的空白，同时陆军也在研发针对各种空中和导弹威胁的长期应对措施。但陆军官员告诉《防务新闻》，陆军没有计划购买更多“铁穹”系统，也没有计划将该系统整合到其防空体系中。

陆军几乎没有使用过这两套系统。在2021年底其中一套系统部署到关岛进行为期两周的演习之前，陆军人员曾在德克萨斯州布利斯堡接受过“铁穹”系统的训练。除此之外，这些系统一直存放在华盛顿州刘易斯-麦科德联合基地的一个部队中。

布什表示，美国政府利用租赁机制，以最快的速度将“铁穹”防御系统运抵以色列。他补充说，这些设备目前“正在运输途中”，大部分拦截器已经抵达以色列。

珍·贾德森是一位屡获殊荣的记者，为《防务新闻》报道陆地战争。她也曾为《政治报》和《内幕防务》工作。她拥有波士顿大学新闻学硕士学位和凯尼恩学院文学学士学位。