Israeli government officials and defense aircraft industry representatives said last week's test of the Arrow missile defense system off the coast of California was a success and that they plan to deploy the system as a national defense against threats from hostile countries.

The Arrow missile defense system, a joint U.S-Israeli venture, for the first time shot down an actual Scud ballistic missile on July 29 in a test at Point Mugu Sea Range in California (DAILY, July 30). Arieh Herzog, director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization, called the test "a real success."

The interception was the 12th operational test of the system, which previously has intercepted simulated Scuds. Arrow missiles are roughly 25 feet long and are designed to detect and track missiles in less than three minutes and at altitudes of more than 30 miles. It has the ability to disable incoming warheads by exploding within up to 50 yards of the target.

Herzog said Israel faces threats from Syria, which has a cache of Scud missiles, and Iran, which he said has longer range, more sophisticated Shahab-3 missiles.

Israel plans a two-tier defense system, with the first tier consisting of Patriot missiles and the second tier being Arrow missiles. The country is developing a reconfiguration of Arrow so that it has one command and control center and numerous radar and launch sites scattered throughout the country to make up a national missile defense system. That system is set for deployment "in a few years," Herzog said.

Co-production

Israel has two major programs under way. The Arrow System Improvement Program (ASIP) is aimed at ensuring that Israel has anticipated the improvements Iran will make to its weapons systems and will "already have our answer," Herzog said. The second is co-production of the missile system by Israel Aircraft Industries (AIA) and the Boeing Co., which is developing the subsystems. A contract was signed earlier this year for final delivery of the system in early 2005.

Herzog said the United States provided technical support in developing and testing the system. Boaz Levy, director of the Arrow Program's Systems Missiles and Space Group at Israel Aircraft Industries, told reporters on Aug. 2 that the test reflected not only systems integration but integration between two nations.

Congress approved $155.2 million for the Arrow missile defense program for fiscal year 2005. Of that amount, $68 million was set aside for the production of Arrow missile components in the United States and Arrow missile components and missiles in Israel to meet Israel's defense requirements.

In the July 29 test, a Scud missile was deployed from St. Nicholas Island, roughly 60 miles off the shore of Point Mugu. The Arrow-2 interceptor first detonated its warhead, then the body of the missile collided with the Scud. The launch of the Arrow II missile was controlled from a battle management command and control facility at Point Mugu.

Herzog said the test was performed in the United States because of test range limitations in Israel. Officials from the government and industry are continuing to review the data from the tests, Levy said.

Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, told The DAILY that the Arrow is somewhat better than the Patriot missiles that Israel currently uses, but has its limitations. It is not as fast because it has to carry a warhead, but because it has that warhead, and does not rely on hit-to-kill technology, it can do well in the fairly limited realm in which it will be expected to perform, he said.

The system has a fail-safe to prevent so-called friendly fire. Herzog said that because there are limited potential targets, it reduces the chance of mishaps. The system software has "certain capabilities" that erase any tracks of aircraft to identify actual threats.

Herzog said the United States and Israel have an agreement that potential sales of the system to other countries would have to be agreed upon by both nations. India has been seeking to buy the system for several years (DAILY, June 3, 2002).