Mixed report for Israel's missile defense system
While the work on the Arrow has been marred by failed tests and delays, the David's Sling project has in the past year seen progress in its development.
The security establishment is pressing ahead with the development of the Arrow missile defense system – but not without surprises and mishaps: Defense Ministry officials confirmed on Tuesday that an Arrow 2 missile had failed an interception trial in September 2014, and that an Arrow 3 trial scheduled for December had been cancelled at the last minute.
The Defense Ministry officials noted, however, that progress had been made in the development of the David's Sling and Iron Dome systems with respect to both their short and long-range capabilities.
Following the Arrow 2 test in September, senior security establishment officials were unable to say for sure if the interceptor missile had hit its target. And although reports from Russia claimed that the missile had landed in the sea some 300 kilometers off the coast of Tel Aviv, a senior Defense Ministry official rejected this report as "inaccurate."
It has emerged now, following an official probe, that the interceptor missile did indeed pass very close by the target missile – but failed to hit it. Defense Ministry officials note that dozens of scientists examined the reason for the failure and that the fault has been fixed.
Following an unsuccessful Arrow 3 missile test held three months later, security establishment officials told Reuters that the launch had been aborted due to safety reasons after the interceptor missile had failed to lock on to the target missile. A Defense Ministry statement at the time said that "conditions had not been ripe for launching an interceptor missile."
Officials at HOMA, a part of the Defense Ministry’s Administration for the Development of Weapons and Technological Infrastructure, are now defining the Arrow 3 trial as a "no test."
Despite the delays in the development of the Arrow system, there has been some good news too: The past year has seen progress in the development of the David's Sling system, which is designed to intercept medium- to long-range rockets and cruise missiles.
The David's Sling still requires further testing over the coming months before it goes into operation; but if the tests are successful, the system will become operational already during the course of 2016. The system is believed to be of critical importance for the defense of the home front in a possible conflict with Hezbollah. The Iron Dome system, too, has undergone various upgrades and is now better equipped to deal with long- and short-range threats.
The Arrow system is a central component in the multi-layered defense system under development by the Defense Ministry. The system is based on five layers of defense – Iron Dome, David's Sling, the operational Arrow 2 system, the Bnei Reshef system against ballistic missiles, and the Arrow 3 interceptor.
