The anti-missile system is intended to intercept high
altitude ballistic missiles
The Ministry of Defense's Homa Administration successfully
carried out a successful flight test Monday of the Arrow 3 (in Hebrew:
Hetz 3) anti-missile missile, in conjunction with the U.S. Missile Defense
Agency.
The Defense Ministry said that the test was intended to
check the flight systems of the missile, which is meant to provide added
high-altitude protection against missiles and to solidify the defensive array
protecting Israel
from the long range missile threat.
The Arrow 3 will be able to intercept ballistic missiles
with longer ranges than the ones that Arrow 2 can bring down, and it will do so
at higher altitudes. It is part of the multi-layer defense system that is
intended to protect the state of Israel,
which also includes the Iron
Dome system and the Magic Wand
system.
Iron Dome, which is already operational and functioned very
well during Operation Pillar of Defense, deals primarily with short range missiles. Magic Wand will deal with the
medium-range threat.
Development of the Arrow 3 is expected to take two more
years, whereas Magic Wand is due to become operational in 2014.
The Arrow-3 is needed because the Arrow-2 may not suffice for the neutralization of an incoming nuclear warhead, which needs be conducted before it returns in to the Atmosphere. This holds for the 2nd interception attempt too. There's also the future concern of MIRV, which can be handled effectively only by means of destroying the carrier platform i.e. prior to the separation of the Re-Entry vehicles. The USA would have to buy Arrow-3 systems for deployment in Saudi-Arabia and Germany for deployment in Romania, both facing Iran. The decades-long life-cycle of the Arrow-3 suggests a dependency on Israel for the security of the free-world for the generations to come. Details here:
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