Officials said a dummy missile launched off the Israeli coast to simulate an enemy long-range ballistic rocket was successfully tracks and destroyed by the new system. The test was carried out by the Israeli Defence Ministry’s Missile Defence Organisation and the US Missile Defence Agency (MDA), with assistance from the Israeli Air Force and Israeli Aerospace Industries, which manufactures the Arrow 3.
An Israeli Defence Ministry spokesman said: “Following the launch, the Arrow’s radar spotted the target on its radar array and transferred the data to its fire management centre, which analysed it and fully planned the interception.
“Once the planning was completed, an Arrow 3 interceptor was fired at the target, which completed its mission with complete success.”
MDA director Lt Gen Samuel Greaves said: “This successful test provides confidence in Israel’s capability to protect itself from existing threats in the region.
“My congratulations to the Israel Missile Defence Organisation, the Israeli Air Force, our MDA team, and our industry partners.
“We are committed to assisting the government of Israel in upgrading its national missile defense capability against emerging threats.”
The Arrow 3 system, a more advanced model of the Arrow and Arrow 2 models, was declared operational in January 2017.
It was developed as a joint project with the US and is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles — like those Israel fears Iran may one day launch — while the incoming projectile is still outside the earth’s atmosphere.
The Defence Ministry spokesman said: “The success of this test presents an important milestone in the operational capabilities of the State of Israel in defending itself against current and future existential threats.”
The trial came just two days after Israel’s air defense systems shot down a missile fired from Syria at the Israeli Golan Heights.
An Iron Dome battery intercepted the incoming rocket which the Israeli military said was launched by Iranian forces in Syria, apparently in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on weapons depots in and around Damascus.
Israel responded to the missile attack on the Golan by pounding both Iranian military targets in Syria and the Syrian air defence systems that fired on the attacking Israeli jets on Monday.
Israel has accused Iran of seeking to establish a military presence in Syria that could threaten Israeli security and attempting to transfer advanced weaponry to the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon.
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