IMDO, MDA conduct exoatmospheric testing of Arrow-3 Weapon System

The Israel Missile Defense Organization (IMDO), in collaboration with the US Missile Defense Agency (MDA), completed a 10-day exoatmospheric test campaign of the Arrow-3 Weapon System at the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska (PSCA) in Kodiak on 28 July.

The campaign, led by the Israel Ministry of Defence (IMOD) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), supported by the Israel Air Force (IAF), comprised three exoatmospheric interceptions of threat-representative ballistic missiles – provided by an undisclosed variant of the Rafael Advanced Defence Systems air-launched Sparrow target system launched from an IAF platform. “Preliminary analysis indicates that test objectives were successfully achieved,” the MDA said in a statement.

“What we demonstrated in the last 10 days were three exoatmospheric interceptions by Arrow-3, in three different scenarios, utilising one of the targets from the Sparrow family. We used a completely operational Arrow Weapon System [AWS], operated by the IAF together with engineers from industry,” Boaz Levy, general manager and executive vice-president of IAI’s Systems, Missiles and Space Group, told Jane’s .

An Arrow-3 exoatmospheric ballistic missile interceptor is launched during a 10-day Arrow-3 Weapon System test campaign at the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska (PSCA) in Kodiak in late July. (Israel Ministry of Defence)