JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Iron Dome missile defense system successfully completed its final round of tests, Israel’s Defense Ministry said.
The tests, which include intercepting simultaneous rocket salvoes from different directions, were completed Monday in the Negev Desert.
Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. has built two systems thus far; Israel has not decided how many it will order. The systems are expected to be put into operation in November.
The system has been shown to be able to intercept the kind of rockets used against Israel by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza and by Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iron Dome was initiated after the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and the Gaza war in winter 2008-09, when Israeli border towns were hostage to the barrages of rockets.
The system is portable and can be moved quickly.
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