In the United States, the Raytheon-Rafael Protection Systems (R2S) joint venture has secured a contract worth $1.25 billion for supplying Tamir surface-to-air missiles to Israel.
The direct commercial sale contract, without the intermediation of the US Department of War (US DoW), involves the supply to Israel of missiles, missile kits, and testing equipment.
This is the first contract secured by the Raytheon-Rafael Protection Systems (R2S) joint venture.
Raytheon is a company of RTX Corporation.
The New Camden Production Site
The two companies, Raytheon, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (Rafael ADS), have invested $33 million to construct the new facility, inaugurated earlier this month in East Camden, Arkansas.
The factory has been built to support the initiative of the Israeli Missile Defense Organization (IMDO), which operates under the Research and Development Directorate (DDR&D) of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, aimed at ramping up the mass production of Iron Dome interceptors.
The new site will fully manufacture the Tamir missiles for the Iron Dome weapon system and its American variant, SkyHunter, for the Marine Corps Medium-Range Intercept Capability (MRIC) program.
The Collaboration between Rafael ADS and Raytheon
Developed by Rafael ADS and operational since 2011, the Iron Dome system has repeatedly demonstrated its effectiveness in combat, intercepting thousands of threats with a success rate of over 95%.
Raytheon and Rafael have been collaborating for over a decade on the Iron Dome defense system.
The United States version of the Iron Dome Weapon System’s Tamir, SkyHunter, is a short and medium-range air defense weapon designed to counter a wide range of threats, including cruise missiles, aircraft, rockets, artillery shells, and mortar bombs.
Source and photo credit @RTX Corporation
