Israel to US: We Need Four Iron Dome Batteries

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Although the words of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at the beginning of the week were, "We need more taxes for more batteries of Iron Dome", yet it seems that he funding source is completely different.Walla news has been reported on Wednesday that the Ministry of Defense quoted a request to the U.S. administration to allocate one extra billion shekels to "Israeli" defense systems.According to the request, NIS 700 million earmarked for the purchase of four Iron Dome batteries and an additional NIS 300 million budget for the system "Magic wand", which aims to protect "Israel" from middle range and naval missiles. These allocations are in addition to the security assistance provided by the U.S. Administration to "Israel" annually.The Minister of Defense in the United States, Leon Panetta, said about two weeks ago that the U.S. Ministry (of Defense) will file the request of having an additional amount for the Iron Dome batteries to the Congress. They believed in "Israel" that the decision on the subject of the amount of assistance will be decided by the Congress in the coming weeks and will be studied in the light of the success of the system in protecting the "Israeli" population from the short-range missiles. The batteries, which the United States participates in their funding since the beginning of the project, claimed a success rate of more than 75% as it intercepted short-range missiles during the last recent round of violence in the south.So far, "Rafael" has produced four Iron Dome batteries, three of them are in use and the fourth will be delivered to the Air Force in the next two weeks. Two additional batteries will be sent in the middle of next year.In the meantime, high-ranking officers in the "Israeli" army claimed recently that according to operational plans, the "Israeli" army, in order to rationally defend the State of "Israel", needs 12 Iron Dome batteries at the very least. The "Israeli" army fears from having a difficulty in distrusting the systems during a multi-front war in which rockets from Lebanon and Gaza will be launched in parallel.Following the announcement of the U.S. intentions in granting additional assistance for "Israel", Ehud Barak said on the same day that, "the U.S. decision is further expresses the depth of security relations between the United States and "Israel". It is an honorable distinction for the industry of "Israeli" security, which developed the Iron Dome and still persists in developing a multi-layered system. I thank the U.S. Administration that helps strengthening the security of "Israel". "/129