Israel will test its Arrow 3 anti-ballistic defense missile outside of the country for the first time in 2018.
Adm. James Syring, director of the United States Missile Defense Agency, told a US congressional committee that Israel will test the missile in Kodiak, Alaska next year.
“It [Israel] has significant range constraints within the Mediterranean. And one of the better places to test is in Alaska, from Kodiak. We intend to do that next year,” Syring told a US House of Representatives panel, according to Alaskan media reports.
Alaska’s KTOO News website quoted state-owned Alaska Aerospace Corp. CEO Craig Campbell as saying the company had approached the Missile Defense Agency about “doing the Israeli program out of Kodiak.” Campbell told KTOO that “we are in the process of negotiating that contract today,” but the deal has yet to be finalized.
KTOO noted the defense agency had signed an $80 million umbrella a year ago with Alaska Aerospace Corp. to launch missiles from its Kodiak Island facility. The agency will also test the American Terminal High-Altitude Air Defense (THAAD) missile program at Kodiak Island this summer, Campbell told KTOO.
The Arrow 3 is an anti-ballistic missile jointly developed by Israel and the US. Part of the multi-tiered David’s Sling missile defense system, the Arrow 3 targets incoming ballistic missiles outside of the earth’s atmosphere and is also reportedly capable of shooting down satellites. It was entered into operational service in January 2017.
By: Andrew Friedman/TPS