World Jewish News

UK to buy Iron Dome command & control system for the Falklands

The United Kingdom is to spend £78 million (€ 81,9 million) to purchase a missile defence shield based on Israel’s Iron Dome to protect the Falkland Islands, British media reported Wednesday.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, the UK will install a Sky Sabre system, which employs the command and control system used by Iron Dome missile defense system. The command and control is system is produced by Mprest for Rafael Advanced Defense Systems.

An UK Ministry of Defense spokesperson said: ‘Following an open competition, we selected Rafael for a £78m contract to provide the main computer system which will link our state-of-the-art radars and new Land Ceptor launchers together to boost our defence of the Falkland Islands.”

Natan Barak, chief executive of Mprest, told the Daily Mail that the system “can protect any area worldwide”.

“You have to identify, as fast as you can, which object is in the air, whether it is Great Britain’s or something else, and see if it is a threat,” Barak said. ‘It also has to be capable of integrating with launchers and missiles. Our system is capable of doing this very fast. We are going to be part of the NATO network and we are going to integrate our system with Britain’s command and control system. They will be able to operate and activate our system to fire on threats.”

EJP