An additional US Navy destroyer arrived in the eastern Mediterranean on Friday, joining three others in the area and two in the Red Sea. The ships are operating close enough to Israel to be able to intercept missiles fired by Iran, a defense official told the Wall Street Journal.
He explained that these warships are located close enough to Israel to intercept Iranian missiles.
Most of the U.S.’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers are armed with a range of interceptors, known as SM-2, SM-3 and SM-6, that can shoot down ballistic missiles and other aerial threats. SM-3s, first used in combat last year to counter an Iranian attack, are designed to intercept missiles above the atmosphere in the middle of their flight paths.
The US has also replenished stocks of ground-based interceptors for the Thaad antimissile system it set up in Israel last year, which it built in Israel last year and is operated by the US military.
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