An Iron Dome anti-missile battery was placed in the city of Eilat this week, less than a month after the remains of a Grad rocket were located in the southern Arava, not far from the city.

The IDF said that placing the battery in Eilat is an exercise which is part of a program testing the Iron Dome’s integration capabilities.

“The system is placed from time to time at various places throughout the country and on Monday it was placed in Eilat for a few days,” said the IDF, noting that placing the battery near the southern border was part of operational preparations and is not because of concrete alerts.

The highly acclaimed Iron Dome technology was a reaction to the thousands of missiles that have rained down on Israeli citizens from Hamas-controlled Gaza.

The system has proven very effective and was successful in intercepting 90 percent of missile attacks on urban centers. In May, the United States gave Israel $70 million for additional Iron Dome batteries.

The IAF´s Aerial Defense Formation recently said it is already working on additional developments and improvements to Iron Dome. The next stage of the Iron Dome will include advances in interception capabilities, and will respond to a wider range of threats. (IsraelNationalNews © 2012 07/12/12)