The award follows a 33 million dollar investment used to establish a new production site in East Camden, Arkansas, which opened earlier this month. The facility supports the Israel Missile Defense Organization’s initiative to accelerate serial production of Iron Dome interceptors under the Directorate of Defense Research and Development.
The new site will manufacture Tamir missiles for Iron Dome and the U.S. SkyHunter variant used in the Marine Corps’ Medium-Range Intercept Capability programme. Jonathan Casey, R2S Chief Executive Officer, said: “This is the first production contract for the R2S joint venture and a major milestone for both Raytheon and Rafael. The new Camden site is the first all-up-round production facility in the U.S. to manufacture Tamir and SkyHunter missiles.”
Rafael developed Iron Dome, which has been operational since 2011 and has intercepted thousands of threats with a success rate exceeding 95 per cent. Raytheon and Rafael have cooperated on the system for more than a decade, and the SkyHunter variant is designed to counter threats including cruise missiles, aircraft, rockets, artillery and mortars.
