Are Israel's 'Iron Dome' Systems Better Than U.S. Supplied 'NASAMS'?

As Ukraine awaits its delivery of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) from the U.S., they also recently made a plea to Israel for its Iron Dome air defense technologies.

On Wednesday, Axios obtained a letter the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel sent to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting Iron Dome technology, following continued missile attacks from Russia.

"Ukraine is high interested in obtaining from Israel (in shortest possible terms) defence systems, in particular: Iron Beam, Barak-8, Patriot, Iron Dome, David's Sling, Arrow Interceptor and Israeli support in training for Ukrainian operators," the letter obtained by Axios said.

In addition to the letter, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko also recently made similar comments during an interview with the Washington Post.

"Israel has great experience with air defense and Iron Dome, and we need exactly the same system in our city," Klitschko said. "We have been talking with them a long time about it. Those discussions have not been successful."

NASAMS are developed by Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Kongsberg. According to Raytheon "NASAMS provides air defenders with a tailorable, state-of-the-art defense system that can maximize their ability to identify, engage and destroy current and evolving enemy aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicle and emerging cruise missile threats."

On the other hand, Israel's Iron Dome technology was developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the company states that the Iron Dome "is a highly mobile, dual mission system that is constantly evolving and has grown over the years into a family of systems."

The defense company added that the Iron Dome provides a solution to combat short-range threats as well as "rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM) threats, aircraft, helicopters, UAVs, PGMs, and cruise missiles."

While speaking with Newsweek on Wednesday, Thomas Karako the director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that both NASAMS and the Iron Dome are "very capable systems."

"The NASAMS would be a more capable system," Karako told Newsweek. "It's a little bit more tailored to the cruise missile defense problem, whereas the Iron Dome would be a little bit more on the lower end, still very capable, for a different problem set."

Despite the recent pleas for the Iron Dome, Karako also noted that the Ukrainians "want capacity" in terms of air defense systems.

"They want any air defenses they can get their hands on," Karako said. "We're sending them two NASAMS. It's a capacity problem more than it is a capability thing. They just want to get as much stuff as they can in terms of air defense and they will make do with it."

Karako also suggested that it is unlikely Israel would provide the Iron Dome technology to Ukraine.

Riki Ellison, the chairman and founder of Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance told Newsweek that NASAMS and the Iron Dome are for "different sets of targets."

"The Iron Dome is for rockets, not so much for cruise missile defense," Ellison told Newsweek. "What you're seeing today, the Iranian drones...they are not integrable with other foreign systems or U.S. systems."

"The NASAM is a more expensive missile, it is cruise missile designed. It is on all of our fighter aircraft," Ellison said.

According to Ellison, the Iron Dome technology may be more capable of taking down Iranian-made drones, but he noted that "that threat can be shot down by stingers...or guns, it's a slow moving threat."

Ellison also noted that it would take a long time to integrate an Iron Dome system in Ukraine.

Newsweek reached out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Israel and the Ukrainian Embassy in Israel.

Update 10/19/22, 4:24 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include comments from Riki Ellison.