Israel’s Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that it had conducted, with the United States, a test of the ballistic missile interceptor Arrow 3. The test, carried out in the center of the country, was successful – the interceptor missile hit its target.
The defense establishment statement explained that immediately upon launching the target, the Arrow 3 radar detected its location and transmitted the data to the shooting management center, which instantly designed and carried out a complete interception plan, following which an Arrow 3 interceptor was fired at the target and hit it.
“The success of the experiment constitutes an important milestone in the State of Israel’s operational ability to defend itself against existing and future threats in the arena,” said a statement from the MOD Homa (Wall) administration and the US Missile Defense Agency, adding, “It should be emphasized that this is another planned experiment in the development process.”
The Arrow defense system is a central component of Israel’s multi-layered defense system, which is based on four operational defense layers: Iron Dome, Magic Wand, Arrow 2, and Arrow 3.
The experiment was carried out against the background of renewed tensions in Israel’s north, the firing of an Iran-made rocket at Mount Hermon—by Iranians, and the extensive attack by the air force inside Syria.
The Iranian rocket has a range of more than 155 miles and carries a warhead of about 440 pounds, and has an enormous potential damage. These missiles can reach Hadera and Netanya from Syria. They were fired at Mount Hermon precisely when there were thousands of Israeli skiers and other tourists on the summit. Which is why the Israeli response was so powerful: 12 targets bombed throughout Syria, including Iranian arms depots at the Damascus airport, training camps south of the Syrian capital and Iranian intelligence facilities. Then, after they had fired at Israeli Air Force planes, six Syrian anti-aircraft batteries were also destroyed.