US Marine Corps (USMC) leaders are in a race to field a capability to intercept mid-range rockets and artillery, and they are set to host a demonstration integrating Northrop Grumman’s AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) with components of Rafael’s Iron Dome system.
In a 12 August email to Jane’s , USMC spokesperson Barbara Hamby confirmed that the marine corps will be hosting a demo to determine if it can net together existing service capabilities with those from the Iron Dome system. Although she did not directly address which Iron Dome components the service would be using, Iron Dome includes a launcher and uses Tamir interceptors.
An Iron Dome Tamir missile shown launching from the US Army's new air-defence platform, the IFPC 2-Intercept multimission launcher. The USMC is set to demo its G/ATOR with components of Rafael’s Iron Dome system. (US Army/John A Hamilton)
“The Marine Corps has an urgent statement of need requirement for a medium-range intercept capability as part of USMC ground based air defense,” Hamby wrote. She noted that the office for the Program Manager of Ground Based Air Defense is looking at “various options” including “integrating” existing G/ATOR and a Common Aviation Command and Control System (CAC2S) with Iron Dome “system components”.
“A demo is planned, in the near future, to help understand the level of capability that would be provided by this type of integrated system,” Hamby said.
First fielded in 2011, Iron Dome is a mobile short-range air-defence system designed to down weapons launched between 4 km and 70 km away.
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