Global Security Newswire

Israel plans in coming days to launch an Arrow 2 missile interceptor off the California coast, the Jerusalem Post reported yesterday (see GSN, May 21).

The exercise would be the first Arrow 2 test to target a mock enemy missile capable of traveling 625 miles. This would be the third time the United States has hosted an Arrow exercise, as the geography around Israel is less amenable to long-range missile intercept tests.

Israel is "limited to the range of the missile they can test in the eastern Mediterranean. There's a safety issue. That's the primary purpose of them coming to the United States to use our test range," said U.S. Missile Defense Agency chief Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, according to Reuters.

The test would also provide the United States "the opportunity to have the Patriot system, the [Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense] system and the Aegis system all interacting with the Arrow system, so that we're demonstrating full interoperability as we execute this test," O'Reilly added.

The Israeli air force as of April had conducted 17 tests of the improved Arrow 2 system, which Jerusalem says could take down an Iranian missile tipped with a nuclear warhead. Iran says its nuclear activities have no military component (see related GSN story, today).

Washington is also financing creation of the Israeli Arrow 3 system, which is intended to send interceptors higher than its predecessor and to destroy missiles fired from greater distances, the Post reported (Jerusalem Post, July 15).