Israel, US Conduct Arrow-3 Missile Interceptor Test

Israel successfully conducted flight experiment of the exoatmospheric Arrow-3 advanced missile defense system in collaboration with the US Missile Defense Agency on Monday, following two cancellations in recent months.

According to Israeli Defense Ministry’s announcement, the trial of the system, which is designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside the earth’s atmosphere, was concluded successfully after it was finally launched at 2:30am, following two cancellations between December and January.

“A short while ago, the Defense Ministry and American MDA carried out a planned flight test of its Arrow weapons system, with an Arrow 3 interceptor,” the Defense Ministry said in a tweet early Monday.

“The Arrow 3 interceptor was launched and carried out its mission,” the ministry added in a subsequent tweet, implying the test had been successful.

In January, an exercise was called off because of a data transfer problem and in December a test was canceled over safety concerns.

The latest test was conducted at a test site in central Israel and was led by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in collaboration with the Israeli Air Force.