Tel Aviv: German legislators agreed on Wednesday, June 14 to pay a portion of the roughly Euro 4 billion price tag for Israel’s Arrow 3 air defence system. Germany decided to deploy the system in wake of the Russian invasion to Ukraine.
An initial payment of Euro 560 million was approved by the budget committee in the lower chamber of the German parliament.
Designed to take down missiles above the Earth’s atmosphere, the long-range Arrow 3 system is effective enough to provide cover for nearby European Union member states.
The “Arrow 3” air defence system is one of the most advanced of its kind – employed to intercept exo-atmospheric ballistic missiles. The Israel Missile Defence Organization (IMDO) in the Israel Ministry of Defence Directorate for Defence R&D, and the United States Missile Defence Agency (MDA) jointly developed the system. The primary contractor for the integration and development of the system is Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), working with additional Israeli and American defence industries.
The system is jointly developed and produced with the United States. As such, the deal required the US approval .
Israeli sources said that while the official approval was not granted yet Washington signalled to Germany that it can move forward with the deal.
In January 2022 Israel successfully tested an upgraded version of the Arrow 3. The tests were conducted jointly by the Israel Missile Defence Organization (IMDO), its US counterpart the Missile Defence Agency (MDA) and the Israeli armed forces. According to the official announcement, operational radars detected the target and transferred data to the battle management control, which analysed the data and established a defence plan. After the defence plan was established, two Arrow 3 interceptors were launched toward the target and completed the mission.
The targets depicting some of these emerging threats in the test were developed by Israeli-firm Rafael, and were launched by Israeli Air Force F-15 over the Mediterranean.
-The writer is an Israel-based freelance journalist. The views expressed are of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
