Israel conducts successful test of Arrow 3 anti-ballistic system

With an eye on threats stemming from Iran and its terror proxies such as Hezbollah, Israel conducted another successful test of its anti-ballistic missile defense system. 

By: Aryeh Savir, World Israel News

Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced Thursday that it had conducted its first successful trial for the Arrow 3 anti-ballistic defense system.

The defensive system successfully intercepted a projectile that was launched from an Israeli Air Force (IAF) aircraft in mid sea. Analysts are examining the data to determine the rate of success.

The Defense Ministry stated it “conducted a successful first engagement of a ballistic missile target with the Arrow-3 interceptor.” It called Thursday’s test, which it views with the “outmost significance, a “major milestone” in the development of the system.

“We launched the Arrow 3 and, for the first time with the Arrow 3, we have intercepted the right target, very accurately, as planned,” Yoav Turgeman, the general manager of the Israel Aerospace Industry’s (IAI) missile division, said.

Israel has previously conducted an unsuccessful test with the interceptor, and after this successful phase, plans future tests.

The system, jointly funded and developed by Israel and the US’ Missile Defense Agency (MDA), provides outer-atmospheric interception of ballistic missiles. The Arrow 3 provides another layer of defense, supplementing the already operational Arrow 2 defensive system.

Israel is simultaneously working on developing its other defensive systems, which include the highly successful Iron Dome system and David’s Sling is designed to contend with mid-range missiles, working to provide Israel with an almost hermetic defense against a wide array of ballistic projectile, with its eye on the Iranian ballistic threat, and the ones posed by the Hezbollah terror organization out of Lebanon and Hamas out of Gaza.

The Arrow 3 is being developed by IAI together with US aviation giant Boeing Co.