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The Israeli Air Force is building a new antimissile battery to strengthen the aerial umbrella of defense The Israeli Air Force is raising activity levels against the threat of long-range missiles: another antimissile battery called Arrow is currently being built at AIF arsenals. The new battery is expected to be put into operational use in the coming months, and will join the aerial umbrella of defense provided by the unit Herev Magen. The antimissile battery’s new location was carefully chosen: officers of Herev Magen explained that before its location was ruled, certain physical variables had to be considered to determine...

Jointly developed by IAI and Boeing in the US, the Arrow 3 will serve as Israel’s top-tier missile defense system, adding another layer of defense to that provided by the Arrow 2, which is already operational and deployed throughout Israel. The initial test of the Arrow 3 will not include the interception of a mock enemy missile. An interception test will likely take place in 2012. “The Arrow system can effectively counter all of the missile threats that exist in the region,” said Inbal Kreiss, the Arrow 3 project manager at IAI. Kreiss, who spoke at the New Tech conference...

The U.S. and Israel have started development of an upper-stage component to Israel’s Arrow-3 missile defense architecture. Arieh Herzog, director of Israel’s missile defense program, says the main element will be a highly maneuverable exoatmospheric interceptor that zeros in on an incoming missile. The decision to add the component, which will be jointly developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Boeing, stems from a study conducted in that identified a need for it in Israel’s ballistic missile defense system. Meanwhile, given the urgent need to meet the growing ballistic missile threat from Iran, IAI is pressing ahead with the Arrow-3...

Israel is increasing the production of its Arrow anti-missile missiles. Costing over three million dollars each, and partly constructed in the United States (by Boeing), the Arrow missiles are Israel's principal defense against Syrian and Iranian ballistic missiles. Since Arrow entered service nine years ago, Only about 120 missiles have been built. Currently, Israel has about a hundred Arrows available, and would like to increase that to 150 or 200 in the next few years. More than half the nearly three billion dollar cost of developing and building Arrow has come from the United States. In addition, American firms have...

The development schedule for a new U.S.-Israeli missile interceptor system is overly ambitious, and defense authorities likely will have to implement a backup plan if countries like Iran acquire a nuclear-tipped missile before the end of the next decade, according to defense experts. Advanced sensor and propulsion capabilities envisioned for the Arrow-3 interceptor likely will take significantly longer to develop than the five or six years estimated by Boeing Co., particularly given the program’s funding level, the experts said. “Look at any system that is developed — it takes 10 years from concept to deployment and there’s not much [funding]...

Israel and the United States are set to conduct a crucial test on a jointly developed anti-ballistic missile system, with the results of the test possibly determining the system's future. A battery of the Arrow anti-ballistic missile system has been shipped to a U.S. naval base and will attempt to shoot down a Scud missile launched from the Pacific Ocean. The point of impact would be at an altitude of several dozen kilometers. Israel and the U.S. decided to carry out the experiment some two years ago. The U.S. has specially purchased a Scu missile for the purpose of the...

The arrow missile system provide a good line of defense against Iran's Shihab-3 missile," the heads of the Arrow system Aryeh Herzog said Tuesday. After years of development, Iran announced Monday that the Shihab-3 ballistic missile, capable of reaching Israel with a 1,300 km range, has undergone its "final testing" and is now operational. Defense officials warned that the Shihab missile has the ability to carry a nuclear warhead and that Iran will most probably achieve nuclear capability within two years. Herzog also said that Israel needs to watch over Syrian surface-to-surface missiles, which can reach Israeli targets.

Witnesses: Israel Test-Fires Arrow Missile Jan. 5 — By Mark Heinrich PALMAHIM, Israel (Reuters) - Israel carried out a test launch of its Arrow missile interceptor Sunday, stepping up preparations for possible attack by Iraq in event of a U.S.-led war in the Gulf, witnesses said. An Arrow streaked westward over the Mediterranean after being fired from a seaside military base at Palmahim, south of Tel Aviv, witnesses said. Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has said the military would fire several of the Arrows, making it the first time a salvo had been launched. There was no immediate word if...