Israel said it completed Thursday another successful test of its state-of-the-art Arrow interceptor missile, a system that has been more than 14 years in development in a joint project with the United States.
“The successful test is a vital component in maintaining Israels deterrent ability and will make a significant contribution to the state of Israels military and strategic strength,” Prime Minister Ehud Barak said in a statement.
The defence ministry, which is also headed by Barak, said initial results indicated that all components of the system performed as planned, destroying a Black Sparrow missile simulating a Scud, or tactical ballistic missile, that was launched towards the Israeli coast.
The defense ministry’s research chief, General Yitzhak Ben Israel, told military radio that the Black Sparrow had been fired from a point “several hundred kilometers” from the Israeli coast.
“Until now, we have carried out trials only against missiles fired from Israel,” he said.
Ben Israel echoed Barak, saying the Arrow “is an appropriate response to the threat of surface-to-surface missles deployed by Iran,” referring to the Shihab-3 that Tehran successfully tested this summer.
Israel’s air force took possession in March of a first battery of Arrow missiles, part of the Homa, or Wall, project designed to counter the acquisition by hostile states such as Iran, Iraq and Syria of missiles capable of striking Israeli cities.
A second battery had been slated for installation in central Israel, but that deployment was blocked after protests from residents of homes near the planned site.
Military officials have said the deployment of the Arrow will make Israel the first country in the world to have a purpose-built anti-ballistic missile capability.
The system was due to become operational in 1995, but the 2.2 billion dollar project, which is jointly funded by the United States, fell well behind schedule.
Israeli radio said Thursday’s test was the first time the Arrow had intercepted in full flight a missile fired in conditions as close to real as possible.
“The succcess of the test shows that the system has become operational,” said Danny Peretz from the system developer, Israel Aircraft Industries, although he added that testing would continue.
US military officers were present for the test which was conducted at the Palmahim on the coast of Israel south of Tel Aviv, the radio said.
“The test brings the Arrow II success record to seven out of eight tests and three out of three system tests,” the defence ministry said.
