Israel, U.S. successfully test Arrow 3 antiballistic missile system

News

February 21, 2018

TEL AVIV, Israel. The Israel Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) of the Directorate of the Defense Research and Development at Israel's Ministry of Defense, together with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), report a successful flight test of the Arrow 3 weapons system, Israel's system that is designed to defend against ballistic missiles outside of the atmosphere.

The test was conducted at a test site in central Israel; it was led by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in collaboration with the Israeli Air Force, with support and system codevelopment aid from the MDA.

The primary contractor for the integration and development of the Arrow Weapons System is the MLM division of IAI; Boeing also partnered with MLM to develop and produce the Arrow 3 interceptor.

Whereas Israel's Arrow 2 antimissile system is designed to intercept projectiles high and low within the atmosphere, the newly tested Arrow 3 missiles will fly into space, where their warheads detach to become satellites that track and slam into their targets. Such high-altitude takedowns are meant to safely destroy incoming nuclear, biological, or chemical missiles.

The United States has its own system for intercepting ballistic missiles in space, known as Aegis.