U.S. Marines Complete Tests of Missile System Incorporating Israel's Iron Dome

The U.S. Marine Corps completed a series of interception tests of an air defense system incorporating RAFAEL’s TAMIR IRON DOME interceptor.

In June 2022, the service tested a variant of the Iron Dome. Dubbed Marine Corps’ Medium-Range Intercept Capability (MRIC), the system combines the Iron Dome’s ground launcher and Tamir interceptor missiles with a U.S.M.C. G/ATOR Radar and CAC2S Battle Management System.

The latest live fire test culminates a series of three trials carried out over the past year, and for the third time the system intercepted a wide variety of targets. In this latest test, the ability to continuously launch TAMIR IRON DOME interceptors from a mobile launcher developed by the Marines was also tested.

The series of tests were conducted by the Marines at the White Sands facility in New Mexico as part of the development program to test the new prototype system for MRIC.

The experiment proved both the performance of the mobile launcher developed for the Marines, and the performance of the IRON DOME interceptor, in several complicated interception scenarios.

The Tamir interceptor is capable of intercepting cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, rockets, mortars and Precision Guided Missiles. The interceptor was developed by RAFAEL, which was a partner in adapting it to the configuration of the Marine Corps and in conducting the experiment.

U.S. and Iron Dome

Israel sold two Iron Dome batteries to the U.S., which were delivered by January 2021. Since then, the U.S. Army has been working to integrate the system into its air defense array.

The U.S. and Israel agreed to make the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile interoperable with the Iron Dome.