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Israel: Country Prepares for Arrow Missile Defense Test Israel is finalizing preparations for a long-anticipated test of the Arrow missile defense system, Ha’aretz reported yesterday (see GSN, June 19). The increasing likelihood that the United States will attack Iraq has prompted nearby residents to withdraw objections to a test based on concerns about radiation from the battery, Ha’aretz reported. The test of the Arrow missile system has taken on a new significance amid fears that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will fire missiles at Israel if Iraq is attacked. The Israeli Defense Forces are assembling a battery for the system, which consists of three parts, according to the newspaper. The Green Pine radar is designed to detect and track a missile, sending trajectory data to the Golden Etrog command and control computer, which plans an interceptor path and sends that information to the battery itself to launch an Arrow anti-missile missile, according to Ha’aretz. Military personnel have repositioned the command and control unit and are finishing work on the radar system for the test (Amnon Barzilai, Ha’aretz, Oct. 6). Arrow designers have worked to improve upon the Patriot missile system which was used in Israel in the 1991 Gulf War, the New York Times reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 6). If Israel employs the Arrow system, it would be the first combat use of an interceptor designed exclusively to counter ballistic missiles, a Pentagon official said. “The whole world will be watching to see what happens,” the official said. The battery currently being installed for testing is the second of three and provides partial missile defense for the country. The $2 billion system — almost half of which was financed by the United States — will become a national missile defense system once all three planned batteries are in place (see GSN, May 7). “We can cover the heart of the country and the largest population centers in central Israel and in the north,” battery commander Lt. Col. Shahar Shohat said of the current capability (Michael Gordon, New York Times, Oct. 6).
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