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An Arrow missile is launched against a virtual enemy target. (Israel Aircraft Industries)
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| By Ellis Shuman July 27, 2004 |
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Israel's Arrow missile interceptor will soon be put to the test when it is launched against a real incoming Scud missile at a naval base in California. The Arrow, manufactured by Israel Aircraft Industries and co-funded by the United States, has previously shot down "dummy" Scuds and computer simulations.
At a time when Israel is no longer endangered by an Iraqi missile threat, it is unclear if the Arrow interceptors will prove effective against Iran's long-range Shahab-3 missiles. A security official told Army Radio today that the Arrow was untested against the incoming angle of missiles fired at Israel from such a distance. Iran yesterday threatened to "wipe Israel off the map" if Israel or the United States launched an attack on the country's nuclear facilities.
Ahead of this week's test, an Arrow missile battery was provided by Israel to the United States. An American army unit will launch an unarmed Scud missile, captured during the Gulf War, and Israel's Green Pine radar system will attempt to track its trajectory. The Arrow interceptors will be fired at the appropriate time by computer command, with the goal of blasting the incoming missile over the ocean.
Security officials, speaking on Channel One television yesterday, dismissed suggestions that the Arrow test was a warning signal to Syria and Iran. "These tests are planned many years in advance. There is no connection between them and current developments," one official said.
A successful test this week will prove that "the Arrow can protect the State of Israel from ground-to-ground missiles that already exist, and from those that will be developed in the coming years," officials said, quoted in Yediot Aharonot.
If the test proves unsuccessful, however, planners will have many months of corrections, adjustments and recalculations ahead of them, Army Radio reported.
Israel and the United States have invested $2 billion in the Arrow project. Security sources are convinced the Arrow, which can travel at nine times the speed of sound to intercept hostile missiles as far as 50 kilometers from their targets, could intercept any missile fired from Iraq or Iran, including Scuds.
In the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq fired 39 Scuds at Israel causing damage but few casualties. The IDF declared the Arrow system operational in 2000, but it has not been tested in combat situations. Two batteries of Arrow missile interceptors are already operational at Ein Shemer and Palmahim in Israel.
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