South Korea’s new US ‘Iron Dome’ air defence system seen as reply to China

The US has deployed a new air defence system in South Korea – dubbed America’s Iron Dome – in what analysts see as an effort by Washington to counter Chinese or North Korean drone operations in the event of a conflict in the region.

On Thursday, the Pentagon’s Defence Visual Information Distribution Service uploaded photos of US Army Chief of Staff General Randy George’s visit to South Korea last Monday for an engagement with US Forces Korea (USFK) soldiers and meetings with South Korean military leaders.

Among the images was a group photo at a Patriot surface-to-air missile tactical site, with George posing alongside leaders from the 35th Air Defence Artillery Brigade and soldiers from the 6th Battalion, 52nd Air Defence Artillery Regiment, featuring a launcher of the Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) system.

The moment captured the first known instance of the US deploying such a system at one of its overseas bases.

It also followed a media report in March that the US Army planned to send a prototype launcher for the IFPC to South Korea to examine the possibility of sending new air and missile defence capabilities, still in the prototype phase, to global hotspots.

Consisting of a launcher and interceptors, the IFPC system is a mobile, ground-based weapon system designed to defeat cruise missiles, unmanned aircraft systems and rockets, artillery and mortars.

South China Morning Post