Israel shipped the second of two Iron Dome missile defence systems to the US Army, with hopes to sell more batteries to the Americans in the future, the Israeli Defence Ministry said on Sunday.

“I am confident that the system will assist the US Army in protecting American troops from ballistic and airborne threats as well as from developing threats in the areas where US troops are deployed on various missions,” Defence Minister Benny Gantz said in a statement.

In August 2019, the US agreed to purchase two Iron Dome batteries made by Rafael Advanced Systems Ltd, ELTA and mPrest firms.

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The first of these was delivered in September and was “already undergoing a process of implementation in the US,” Israel’s Defence Ministry said. The Israel Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) announced earlier this weekend the shipment of the second battery to the US.

According to “The Times of Israel”, Israel is interested in selling the Iron Dome system abroad but without exposing the proprietary technologies as such information could be used by the country’s enemies to beat the system.

In March, the US military raised concerns over the fact that it had not received access to this underlying source code, which made additional purchases less likely.

A spokesperson for Rafael told “The Times of Israel” in September that the company was actively negotiating additional sales to the American military and believed the concerns raised in March were no longer relevant.

The spokesman noted that in August Rafael announced that it was partnering with the American defence contractor Raytheon to open an Iron Dome production line in the United States — a sign that further US deals were in the offing.

The Iron Dome system, which was first developed in Israel – and was expanded significantly with US funding – has been in operational use for nearly a decade in Israel, intercepting according to Moshe Patel, the head of IMDO, over 2,400 projectiles which, as he said, “saved hundreds of lives.”

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The Iron Dome is an integral part of Israel’s multi-layered defence array, which also includes the David’s Sling, Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 weapon systems.

With information from: timesofisrael.com

*Photo: The Times of Israel/Uri Lenz/Flash90

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