Arrow anti-missile system passes latest test

Dec. 16, 2003
By ARIEH O’SULLIVAN

Israel successfully tested the Arrow–2 anti-missile missile Tuesday morning, intercepting an incoming rocket at high altitude, the Defense Ministry announced.

It was the 11th test of the anti-ballistic missile system. The United States has put up most of the funding for the Arrow program and US officials were on hand for the test.

Describing the test launch as “routine,” a defense ministry statement said its objectives were to demonstrate the Arrow’s systems improved performance against incoming targets at a higher altitude.

Launched at the Palmahim Air Force Base south of Tel Aviv at 7:15 am, it shot down a live missile, dubbed the Black Sparrow, which was dropped from an IAF F-15 fighter jet at high altitude and assumed the flight path of an incoming Scud missile heading toward Israel’s shore.

The Arrow-2 Green Pine radar detected the missile. The Citron fire-control center then launched the Arrow-2 interceptor.

“The test’s success is a major step in the system operational improvements to deal with incoming ballistic missile threats,” a ministry statement said.

The test was part of the Arrow System Improvement Program, which is managed by the Defense Ministry’s Missile Defense Organization in close cooperation with the US Missile Defense Agency. It was the sixth time that the complete system has been tested.

The Arrow program was launched by the Israel Aircraft Industries to intercept and destroy Scud missiles, similar to the ones Iraq fired during the Gulf War of 1991. Israel currently deploys two Arrow batteries and they were active during the last Gulf War. At least once they received a false alarm after they picked up surface-to-surface missiles fired from Iraq toward Kuwait.