An Arrow 2 is launched during a test in the United States on 29 July 2004. (US Department of Defense)
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is working on the Arrow 5 ballistic missile interceptor, Boaz Levy, the company's CEO told Janes during the International Defence Exhibition & Conference (IDEX) 2025 held in Abu Dhabi from 17 to 21 February.
He said IAI is in talks with several potential customers for the Arrow Weapon System (AWS), which currently uses the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 missiles, now that it has proved itself in combat. “It is not only Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 [we are talking about], there will be Arrow 4 and Arrow 5, which we are working on these days,” he added.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense announced in 2021 that work had begun on the Arrow 4, which will replace the Arrow 2, but the existence of the Arrow 5 programme has not been previously revealed. Levy gave few details about the missile, only saying that “Arrow 5 is something for the near future with other capabilities”.
He added that this was part of the ongoing development of the AWS to counter threats as they evolve. “Our obligation as IAI is to predict the future and try to be ahead of our enemies,” he said. “We succeeded until now and it is our goal to continue doing that.”
While the Arrow 2 was used to intercept an errant Syrian surface-to-air missile in March 2017, the first real use of the AWS in combat came when the Iranian-backed Ansar Allah (commonly known as Houthi) rebels in Yemen started launching ballistic missiles in support of Hamas after its 7 October 2023 attack on Israel.
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