The U.S. Army and Israeli industry team conducted the first live-fire test of the recently received Iron Dome defense system, according to a recent service news release.
In a release Monday, Program Executive Office Missiles and Space reported the U.S. Army, the Israel Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) and RAFAEL have successfully completed a live-fire test of the first Iron Dome Defense System (IDDS-A) Battery, which the U.S. acquired from Israel.
IDDS-A will defend supported forces within fixed and semi-fixed locations against sub-sonic Cruise Missiles, Groups 2 &3 Unmanned Aircraft Systems, and Rockets, Artillery and Mortar threats, said in a news release
In August 2019, the United States and Israel signed an agreement for the procurement of two IDDS-A batteries to defend deployed US forces against various aerial threats. The IDDS-A systems were delivered in 2020, and have undergone a process of acceptance testing and operator training over the past months.
The 3-43 Air Defense Artillery (ADA) Battalion (BN), a subordinate unit assigned to the 11th ADA Brigade (BDE) in Fort Bliss, TX is the first unit to undergo New Equipment Training, and execute live-fire tests with the newly acquired interim cruise missile defense system. Soldiers from 3-43 ADA successfully engaged eight cruise missile surrogate targets as part of a coordinated performance test and live-fire event.
The U.S. Army plans to field both IDDS-A batteries as an interim cruise missile defense solution, while continuing to acquire an enduring Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) Increment 2 (Inc2) system. Future variants of the IFPC program include technology insertions such as directed energy, which will provide a critical protection capability against sub-sonic Cruise Missiles, Groups 2 &3 Unmanned Aircraft Systems, and Rockets, Artillery and Mortars threats.
