Iron Dome Intercept

The Israeli Defense Forces announced today that it had used the Iron Dome system to successfully intercept a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip.

"Immediately afterwards, an IAF aircraft targeted the squad of terrorists who fired the rocket and confirmed a hit," an IDF statement reads, adding: "It should be stressed that the 'Iron Dome' system, though operational, is still under evaluation."

U.S. funding for the system would be threatened by a government shutdown, as Inside Missile Defense reports this week:

Operating under a continuing resolution would be preferable to a government shutdown -- at least from a missile defense perspective, according to the head of the Missile Defense Agency.

"I think between shutting down the government and continuing contracting in a very inefficient way, I would rather continue the contracting in a very inefficient way," Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly said at a March 31 House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee hearing.

Singling out the Obama administration's proposed Phased Adaptive Approach to help defend Europe from ballistic missile attack, O'Reilly said there are "a lot of new starts in this budget that we're not allowed to turn on." Additionally, the fiscal year 2012 Defense Authorization Act in December authorized $205 million for MDA to procure the Iron Dome, the system that Israel has developed for short-range missile defense.

"Even though the president has committed and it is in the authorization act, it is a new start for me," the general said. "And so I can't even execute what the authorization act has asked me to do. So it's that and it is the impacts to the workforce trying to determine new contracts and things, whether or not they're going to be hired or laid off. It's buying material. We can't commit legally to buying material because we don't have the follow-on funding."