Sens. Rubio, Gillibrand, and Rounds seek to fund U.S.-Israel missile defense programs

U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Mike Rounds (R-SD) forwarded correspondence to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense Monday, advocating for the total funding of U.S.-Israel cooperative missile defense programs.

The funding allocation would apply to the Defense Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2023.

The senators sent letters to U.S. Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT) and Richard Shelby (R-AL), respective chairman and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, seeking $500 million to fund Israel’s missile defense system made up of four operational layers – Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow 2, and now Arrow 3.

The funds will also contribute to ballistic missile defense, support crucial work on research and development, and test activities to ensure Israel can defend itself against hostile unmanned aerial systems.

“Joint U.S.-Israel collaboration on Israel’s multilayer missile defense system is instrumental to the defense of Israel,” the senators wrote. “Since 1986, Congress and successive administrations have demonstrated bipartisan support for joint U.S.-Israel missile defense collaboration. This partnership has helped build and maintain a multi-tiered Israeli missile defense system capable of countering a wide range of threats from state and non-state actors.”

The programs address the challenges facing Israel and the United States while representing the security-based and economic tenets of the enduring friendship between the two nations.