The defense establishment on Sunday evening test fired the Arrow system – the anti-ballistic missile system – for the first time during the night.
The test was conducted simultaneously in two different fields at 9:18 p.m. and was deemed a success.
According to defense sources, the test was aimed at examining the system's ability to deal with destroying enemy missiles. This time the main battery, which is supposed to hit the missile, was not placed dozens of kilometers from the test field.
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"This test constitutes a step up in the extreme conditions we set for ourselves compared to previous tests," a defense source stressed. "We are definitely dealing with relevant threats faced by the State of Israel."
Defense Minister Amir Peretz
praised the successful test-firing of the Arrow missile. He telephoned senior defense officials and commended them on the test’s success.
“The successful test strengthens Israel’s readiness and fortitude and demonstrates the power of the defense establishment,” Peretz said.
Defense establishment officials expressed their satisfaction over the successful test.
"Everything worked perfectly and this proves that Israel has a system which knows how to deal with the threats faced by the State," Colonel Moshe Fatal of the Defense Ministry's Homa anti-ballistic system project told Ynet.
According to Fatal, the fact that the test was carried out under extreme conditions examined how the system would deal with a real challenge, and the success was therefore extremely significant.
"New parameters, which were developed in the past few years, were used in this test," he said. "We are continuing to develop the system. A new launcher was used, for example, in order to accommodate the system to real threats."
The previous test on the Arrow system was carried out
in the center of the country in December 2005 and was also successful.
Nighttime launch (Photo: Melissa Blume)
Defense establishment officials stressed that the test was planned a long time in advance and was on the system's development graph. Sunday's test was the weapons system's 10th test and the interceptor's 15th flight test.
"In this test two Arrow batteries were placed, one in a test field in the center of the country, and the other somewhere else," the senior source explained.
"Beyond the fact that the test was carried out at night, we wanted the distant battery to be the one to spot the threat and work to destroy it, while the other battery receives data but remains passive to the interception."
The test's extreme conditions are aimed at presenting the system with different kinds of challenges, such as the height of the enemy missile and different elements of maneuver and deception, in order to check how the system deals with these challenges.
Defense establishment officials said that the tests were not related to the recent developments in Iran.
"We are not being idle and are developing abilities according to existing threats. We do not play with things that do not exist. This test was part of the system's development and was scheduled in advance according to needs," the senior source said.
He noted that the system's software had significantly improved since the previous test, and that this was to improve its performance.
The Arrow system is being developed jointly by Israel and the United States for the past 19 years. It is meant to intercept medium and long-range ballistic missiles.
AP contributed to the report
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