Tel Aviv: The massive Iranian ballistic missiles attack on Israel during the 12 days war caught Israel with a dwindling stock of Arrow interceptors. This brought the US to make an emergency deployment of another Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) battery to help in protecting Israel.
Now, official US documents show that the stock of THAAD interceptors has been reduced below the “Red Line” Pentagon budget documents seeking urgent new funding show that the US has fired around $500 million worth of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) interceptor missiles to defend Israel, primarily during its June war with Iran.
“This reprogramming action provides funding for the replacement of defence articles from the stocks of the Department of Defence expended in support of Israel or identified and notified to Congress for provision to Israel,” the document said. The documents show that the US defence department is now seeking $498.265 million in funding for THAAD systems alone.
“Funds are required for the procurement of replacement THAAD Interceptors expended in support of Israel. This is a congressional special interest item. This is an emergency budget requirement,” the document said.
THAAD, manufactured by US defence firm Lockheed Martin, engages targets directly at 93 to 124 mile ranges both within and outside the atmosphere, intercepting short, medium and intermediate range ballistic missiles.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
