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US tests Israel’s Iron Dome air-defense system in Guam, eyeing China threat

Congress had ordered two Iron Dome systems in 2019; one should be deployed this year.

An Iron Dome anti-missile battery stationed near the Israeli-Syrian border, in the Golan Heights in northern Israel, on Jan. 3, 2020. Photo by Basel Awidat/Flash90.
An Iron Dome anti-missile battery stationed near the Israeli-Syrian border, in the Golan Heights in northern Israel, on Jan. 3, 2020. Photo by Basel Awidat/Flash90.

The U.S. military is testing Israel’s Iron Dome air-defense system in Guam because of the threat of Chinese cruise missiles.

Iron Dome has demonstrated an ability to intercept cruise missiles that travel below the speed of sound that the Pentagon says could be fired from Chinese bombers at Guam, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Congress had ordered two Iron Dome systems in 2019 and said that one should be deployed this year.

The U.S. military also seeks some $200 million for other technologies, such as a land-based version of the Aegis missile-defense system built by Lockheed Martin that is commonly used on ships, according to the report.

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