On May 10, 2018, Israel warplanes hit suspected Iranian military targets in Syria. Israel says it is responding to Iran’s rocket attack launched from Syria and at Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. Israel reports that the Iranian attack was “unsuccessful” — that all 20 rockets were either intercepted or fell short of their target. Two days prior, on May 8, U.S. President Trump announced that he was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and imposing sanctions on Iran. On that day, according to The New York Times, Israel “put its troops on ‘high alert,’ called up reservists” and “set up Iron Dome batteries.”
Iron Dome is a mobile air defense system developed by Israel Aircraft Industries to intercept and destroy short-range rockets, even under adverse weather conditions. The system has been in use since 2011 in Israel. Each Iron Dome battery is reportedly able to protect an urban area of approximately 150 square kilometers (or 58 square miles). Since 2014, American company Raytheon has been providing a second source of subcomponents for the Iron Dome Tamir interceptor missile. Raytheon is working on producing a U.S. version of Iron Dome called the “SkyHunter® missile” that could someday defend forward-deployed American forces. Note: In July 2017, when Raytheon beat second-quarter earnings, Raytheon CEO Thomas Kennedy credited President Trump for the boost. Kennedy said Secretary of Defense James Mattis‘s focus on U.S. “readiness” has put “a significant demand signal on our missile systems, our sensors and precision munitions across the board.”
