U.S. to help Israel buy four more Iron Dome interceptors ($204 million + $106 million))

The Pentagon is planning to help Israel buy four more Iron Dome short-range anti-rocket batteries, the head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said on Wednesday.

"In our budget, we have a proposal to assist with procurement of four more batteries," Army Lieutenant General Patrick O'Reilly, the agency's director, told the U.S. Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee.

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Obama in his 2012 budget request asked the U.S. Congress for $106.1 million for U.S.-Israeli joint missile defense programs, including improvements to the Arrow ballistic missile shield and David's Sling. Unlike these two programs, the development of Iron Dome was a unilateral Israeli project.

The Iron Dome's radar-guided interceptor missile is built by state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. It is designed to destroy in mid-air rockets and mortar bombs that have ranges of 5 km (3 miles) to 70 km (45 miles).