Iron Dome projectiles intercept rockets
Iron Dome projectiles intercept rocketsFlash 90

Gen. Mark Milley, the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Friday he intends to present to Congress a budget request to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.

Milley’s statement comes a day after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a Senate Appropriations Committee that the Pentagon would be sending Congress a budget request for more Iron Dome interceptor missiles.

“I’ve had this conversation with Minister of Defense Benny Gantz. We were together about two weeks ago and we walked through the details of what his requirements were. We’re working to flesh out those details and you will see a request in the future,” Austin said during a hearing on the Defense Department’s 2022 budget request.

After the recent round of fighting in Gaza, US President Joe Biden said he ensured then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of his “full support to replenish Israel’s Iron Dome system.”

US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) subsequently said that Israel would ask the US for $1 billion in aid to replenish the Iron Dome missile defense system.

“There will be a billion-dollar request coming to the Pentagon this week from the defense minister to replenish the Iron Dome and a few other things to upgrade the system,” Graham said at a news conference in Jerusalem.

“The Iron Dome performed incredibly well, saving thousands of Israeli lives and tens of thousands of Palestinian lives, so I would imagine that the administration will say yes to this request and it will sail through Congress,” he added.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken later said that the United States is committed to replenishing Iron Dome.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)