The Arrow 2 ballistic missile defense system was successfully tested in southern Israel this morning, when it destroyed a missile simulating an Iranian Shihab 3.
It was the eighteenth test of the Arrow, and the first in which the recently modified Arrow 2 was tested in its entirety, along with a new radar system manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The test was conducted jointly by the IAF and the US Missile Defense Agency. The Arrow is a project developed in cooperation by the IAI and Boeing.
The defensive missile was launched around 11 a.m. from the army’s Palmahim base near Ashdod, and intercepted a Blue Sparrow missile fired by a fighter jet and impersonating a Shihab 3.
Defense officials lauded the successful launching as another indication of Israel’s defense capabilities in the face of Iran’s continued quest for a nuclear weapon. They said that the Arrow system could protect Israel from all of the missiles in Iran’s arsenal.
The new Green Pine Radar – an integral part of the Arrow missile defense system – was first tested a year ago. In that test, the system also tracked a Blue Sparrow missile and, after locating and identifying it, related the information to the Arrow battery. However, an interceptor missile was not actually fired in that exercise.
The Blue Sparrow, developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, mimics an advanced Iranian Shihab 3 ballistic missile carrying a split warhead and with advanced radar evading capabilities. The Shihabs in Iran’s current arsenal do not possess such capabilities.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who was flying back after a tour of the South, stopped near Palmahim base to personally observe the test.
{JPost/Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel}
