The Israel Missile Defense Organization and the US Missile Defense Agency test the Arrow 3 missile interceptor in Alaska in 2019. (Photo: US Missile Defense Agency)
The Israeli Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that it signed a deal worth billions of shekels to acquire more Arrow 3 interceptors from the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). Maj.-Gen. (res.) Eyal Zamir, director general of the Ministry of Defense, signed the production contract during a ministry ceremony in Tel Aviv.
The Arrow 3 is the world’s first operational advanced long-range anti-ballistic missile system with a flight range of 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers). It is “designed to intercept enemy ballistic missiles at the earliest possible stage while they are still located outside the Earth’s atmosphere.”
The aim of this rapid response system is to neutralize warheads as near to their launch sites as possible. It was jointly developed and funded by Israel and the United States specifically to counter the growing missile threat from Iran and its proxies, and any other global threats.
Describing the Arrow 3 as the “center layer” in countering ballistic missile threats, Zamir highlighted that, during the early stages of the war, an Arrow 3 made history by achieving the first-ever missile interception in space, and since then has stopped “many complex threats at a very high percentage.”
With the signed deal valued in the billions, it will also “be good for the economy by providing income for thousands of households,” according to Zamir.
After the ground invasion and brutal murders by Hamas terrorists from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen joined the Iranian-backed attacks by launching thousands of missiles and drones into Israel. The Arrow 3 interceptors have been key in saving Israeli lives.
Over the past week, the Houthis launched three ballistic missiles at central Israel, prompting millions to rush to bomb shelters. On Thursday, one missile was intercepted, but its warhead still crashed in Ramat Gan, outside of Tel Aviv, causing a multi-story school building to collapse. The following day, another missile breached air defenses and struck a playground in Tel Aviv, injuring 16 people lightly.
On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz visited an air base where an Arrow 3 system was used to intercept a Houthi missile launched from Yemen.
“We do not rely on anyone except the IDF to protect communities and residents,” Katz said. “The threat to today is in the skies, the first missile war.”
IAI CEO Boaz Levy said the Arrow system “is tangible evidence of Israel’s technological strength and the strategic cooperation with our partners in the USA.”
Levy asserted that the deal would “strengthen Israel’s defense capabilities and allow us to continue improving the system’s performance.”
