South Korea is interested in buying the Israeli short-range rocket interceptor Iron Dome, its manufacturer said on Sunday. Iron Dome, which uses guided missiles to shoot down the Katyusha-style rockets used by Palestinian and Lebanese terrorists, has scored around a 90 percent success rate in the month-old Operation Protective Edge, Israeli officials and U.S. observers say. Yedidia Yaari, CEO of Iron Dome's state-owned manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., said the system's performance had fuelled foreign interest in buying it, including by South Korea, which is in an armed standoff with North Korea. "It is very worried not only about rockets, but other things as well. ... You can certainly include them in the club of interested countries," Yaari told Army Radio, saying Rafael representatives had visited Seoul to promote Iron Dome. Yaari did not give details on how advanced such a deal with South Korea may be. Rafael has not made public any foreign sales so far, saying it was giving priority to supplying Iron Domes to Israel, which has fielded nine out of a planned total of 12 interceptor units. The U.S. has extensively funded the Israeli deployment and supplies of interceptor missiles. Defence industry sources estimate that each Iron Dome battery costs around $50 million and each interceptor missile between $30,000 and $50,000. Also participating in Iron Dome's production are Israeli defence contractors Elisra Group and Israel Aerospace Industries The system uses some components made by U.S. defense contractor Raytheon Co. Meanwhile, a senior Iranian Air Force official, Farzad Ismaili, announced Iran's intention to unveil on September 22 a brand new defense system designed to intercept medium- and long-range missiles. "Iran's greatest weapons specialists worked on the system," said Ismaili, who is an air force base commander.
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South Korea eyeing purchase of Iron Dome defense system
Rafael CEO says Iron Dome's success during Operation Protective Edge has fuelled foreign interest in buying it • Meanwhile, senior Iranian air force official says Iran on verge of presenting a medium and long-range missile defense system.