A Defense Win for Americans and Israelis in Arkansas

While America and Israel’s enemies in the Middle East are degraded, they are not defeated. That is why both countries must sprint to replenish and expand their insufficient stocks of air and missile defense interceptors.

The good news is that some joint efforts on that front are starting to yield tangible results for both countries. Three years to the day after Hamas’s horrific October 7 terror attack, Israel’s Ministry of Defense received the first fully American-made Iron Dome Tamir interceptor from the Raytheon-Rafael Area Protection Systems (R2S) facility in East Camden, Arkansas.

That is a significant development worth understanding and replicating.

Adversaries have launched approximately 31,500 projectiles at Israel since October 7, 2023, according to data released this month by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). More than 30,000 of the projectiles emanated from Lebanon and Gaza, and Iron Dome played an outsized role in intercepting many of those munitions.

That same month, understanding how Tamir production capacity in the United States can augment production in Israel, the R2S joint venture was awarded a $1.25 billion contract to build Tamir interceptors in Arkansas and supply them to Israel.

That was a smart move. 

The situation in Syria is fluid and uncertain, with Ankara increasing its influence, causing some consternation in Jerusalem. The Houthis are again at war with Saudi Arabia, and it is just a matter of time until the terror group in Yemen starts attacking Israel again. Hamas and Hezbollah, meanwhile, are degraded but not defeated. And their terror patron in Tehran has received valuable assistance from Moscow and Beijing.

Insufficient domestic production capacity in Israel on October 6, 2023, required extraordinary measures once the war started.

Rafael reportedly implemented 24/7 operations to meet the strain of increased demand in the months following Hamas’s attack. Steps like those in Camden can reduce the need for extraordinary wartime measures when the shooting resumes in the future.

That will be especially true if Israeli Iron Dome production facilities are damaged or destroyed in future conflicts. If that seems far-fetched, consider that an Iranian strike reportedly caused heavy damage at an Israeli defense manufacturing facility in April. One accurate missile strike could devastate Israel’s Iron Dome production capacity. Israel would be wise to start building some of its key missile defense production facilities underground.

And even if production facilities are not struck, Israel’s need to mobilize IDF reservists can affect the domestic workforce in these facilities. Following October 7, Israel activated over 360,000 reservists, including 10 to 15 percent of the tech sector workforce, according to one estimate.

That put pressure on production rates in Israel at the worst possible moment.

It is also worth considering how the expanding capabilities of Tamir might begin to provide some additional last-ditch protection against ballistic missiles to bolster the existing middle- and upper-tier missile defense systems that were more strained in recent conflicts. That reality argues for a larger Tamir inventory.

While the benefits of the Camden facility for Israel are clear, Americans also benefit.

The additional domestic defense production in Arkansas creates and sustains valuable American jobs, stimulates the economy, strengthens the U.S. defense industrial base, and helps ensure U.S. troops have the protection they need.

Moreover, the facility in Arkansas will soon be producing SkyHunter interceptors for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Medium-Range Intercept Capability (MRIC) system. In other words, U.S.-Israel research and development cooperation, along with Israeli investment, has helped build industrial capacity in Arkansas that will produce munitions to defend American Marines.  

Thankfully, the Marines do not have to wait for completion of Tamir deliveries to Israel from Arkansas to begin receiving interceptors. Israel-based Rafael has already delivered the first batch to the Marine Corps, according to an April 30 industry announcement. 

The war with Iran exposed the vulnerability of U.S. forces and the need for improved air and missile defense capability and capacity. The SkyHunter collaboration is helping to address just that shortcoming.

“The completed production of the first Tamir missile at the R2S facility in Camden is a testament to what America and her allies can achieve together,” Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) said in a statement.

The facility in Camden is a win for Americans and Israelis. This win-win model should be replicated across the country to help begin to address the most urgent needs of American forces.

Bradley Bowman is the senior director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ (FDD’s) Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP), where Justin Leopold-Cohen is a senior research analyst.