Romania seems to be the first European country to buy the Iron Dome defense system from Israel

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Posted by: Carolina Străjescu

News / International

22 Sep. 2022 / 19:34

Romania seems to be the first European country to buy the Iron Dome defense system from Israel

Romania wants to buy Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, sources say, following a visit by Defense Minister Vasile Dîncu to Israel last week, and if a contract is concluded, Romania, a NATO member state , could be the first member state of the European Union (EU) to buy this system, reports Haaretz.

Iron Dome entered the Israeli defensive arsenal in 2011 and proved its effectiveness against attacks coming from the Gaza Strip.

A dome battery costs about $150 million, and an interceptor missile about $50,000.

Israel failed to commercialize this system. It sold two systems to the US Army for 373 million dollars, and Washington is not interested in other purchases.

Azerbaijan also bought the system, and Singapore, Canada, South Korea, India, Finland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic bought components of the radar part of the system.

The system is designed by the Israeli Ministry of Defense and contractors from the Israeli defense industry, but was developed jointly with the United States.

Israel invested 800 million shekels ($232 million) in the dome's development, but the United States invested four times that amount through appropriations approved by Congress.

Thus, any sale of the Iron Dome implies the approval of the United States.

Israel sold the system to the authoritarian regime in Azerbaijan during the Trump administration, but Joe Biden does not approve of the contract.

The system's missiles are also produced through a joint American-Israeli project, by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the American group Raytheon.

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