Raytheon SkyHunter US-certified version of Iron Dome at AUSA 2017.

At AUSA 2017, the Association of United States Army exhibition and conference in Washington D.C., the American Company Raytheon presents the SkyHunter, a US-certified version of the Iron Dome developed jointly by the Israeli Company Rafael and Raytheon. The SkyHunter is a mobile all-weather air defense system designed to destroy short-range rockets and artillery shells fired from distances of 4 to 70 kilometers.

Raytheon SkyHunter short range air defense system against rockets and artillery shells threats presented at AUSA 2017, Association of United States Army exhibition and conference, in Washington D.C., United States, October 2017.

The renowned Iron Dome system has proven itself a life saver with over 1,700 combat interceptions against RAM targets. Iron Dome protects Israel and customers around the world against the growing Rocket, Artillery and Mortar (RAM) threats and also provides Very Short Air Defense (V-SHORAD) against airborne threats The system is designed to be network-centric as well as radar and C4I agnostic and has been successfully integrated with customer-provided radars and C4I systems.

The Iron SkyHunter, can be easily integrated into US Army Multi-Mission Launcher (MML) and other V-SHORAD systems as 'another arrow in its quiver' along with other interceptors.

The SkyHunter interception range is greater than 6 miles (10 km) in all directions, enabling a single launcher to protect an entire airfield. Gun-based systems have ranges of less than 1 mile (1.6 km), requiring approximately eight guns to defend one airfield. The SkyHunter engages all targets in a salvo independently, enabling full system performance, even with simultaneous fire from multiple directions.

The SkyHunter has a powerful, flexible and lethal warhead designed lo initiate the threat warhead, even after penetrating through the threat's thick metallic envelope. This capability is critical, as RAM (Rocket, Artillery and Mortar) threats can be neutralized only via warhead kill. The SkyHunter warhead is married to a sensitive proximity fuse that detonates the warhead when it is closest to the threat warhead, maximizing the warhead effectiveness. The SkyHunter seeker can detect low-observable RAM and airborne threats at a distance large enough to enable successful homing and interception via warhead kill.