The United States approved a $3.5 billion sale of Israel’s Arrow 3 missile killer to Germany on Thursday, clearing the way for delivery in 2025 and full operational deployment by 2030, Israeli officials said. The Arrow system is a long-range air defense system that intercepts missiles inside and outside the Earth’s atmosphere and is developed jointly by the Israel Missile Defence Organisation and the United States Missile Defense Agency. Israel’s most advanced air defense system was developed to protect against Iran’s ballistic missile threat. The German government has been pushing to bolster European air defenses in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the deal would see Berlin become a significant buyer of the Israeli system.
According to a statement from the Israel defense ministry, the decision to approve the sale was made by a senior official at the U.S. State Department. The approval paves the way for Germany to negotiate a procurement agreement with Israel expected to be completed by the end of this year. It will require final approval from both the German and Israeli parliaments.
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Germany’s lower parliament voted in favor of the purchase earlier this year. The funds will come from a 100-billion-euro fund set up by Berlin after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to help modernize the country’s military following years of under-investment.
A senior Israeli official described the U.S. backing of the deal as “significant.” He said it is the biggest defense sale in Israel’s history and will contribute to the country’s force buildup and economy. German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said it was a “sign of the great importance Germany attaches to the security of its allies.”
The missile, which has a range of some 30 miles and can fly at nine times the speed of sound, can intercept hostile missiles in midair, preventing them from carrying weapons of mass destruction or destroying critical facilities or population centers. It is designed to destroy missiles launched at Israel but can also be used to protect its neighboring countries.
Arrow is a critical component of the more extensive Iron Dome defense system, and Israel is already using it to defend against Iranian missile threats. The US is a partner in the Arrow project and has contributed 80 percent of the development costs and invested up to $2 billion in research and development efforts to Israel Aerospace Industries, which makes the system. The system consists of the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 missiles, the Elta EL/M-2080 “Green Pine” and “Great Pine” early-warning radars, and the Elisra “Golden Citron” (“Citron Tree”) C3I center. IAI is developing a successor system, the Arrow 4, that will intercept targets inside and outside the atmosphere.
In recent months the system has suffered from a series of embarrassing technical failures during tests. In one incident, a test missile did not intercept a dummy target fired from a site in southern Israel. An Israeli source attributed this to problems with the test computer software.
