Israel’s Arrow 3 interceptor missile defense system failed its first live interception test.
A senior Israeli Defense Ministry official told the Associated Press that a Dec. 16 exercise to test the advanced system developed with the United States was unsuccessful.
In the exercise, the interceptor missile was not deployed to stop a dummy missile launched over the Mediterranean Sea.
“There was a countdown to the launch and then nothing happened,” an anonymous source told Reuters. “A decision was made not to waste the interceptor missile.”
Defense Ministry officials later announced that “conditions were not ripe for launching the intercepting missile.”
The Arrow 3 interceptor was designed to provide an additional level of defense against ballistic missiles, add interception opportunities to the joint U.S.-Israel Arrow weapons system and improve Israel’s defenses against missile threats, according to the ministry.
It is being developed by Israel Aerospace Industries with the U.S. aviation company Boeing Co.
