GERMANY, ISRAEL TO SIGN $3.5BN MISSILE DEFENCE DEAL

Thu 17 August 2023:

The United States (US) granted authorisation for the sale of Israel’s Arrow 3 missile defence system to Germany, in a deal worth $3.5 billion, reported Reuters.

The ministry said in a statement today that senior officials from the Israeli and German defence ministries would sign a letter of commitment to the deal with a preliminary payment of $600 million.

Germany’s air force is expected to take delivery of the Arrow 3 system by 2025, with complete operational deployment anticipated by 2030.

Israel and the US have been jointly developing the multi-billion-dollar Arrow missile defence system since 1986. It’s considered the most advanced long-range missile defence system, meant to intercept ballistic missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere, allowing for interceptions to occur at significant altitudes above the atmospheric layer.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called the US approval “an expression of confidence in the excellent capabilities of Israel’s defence industries” and a reflection of US-Israeli “powerful defence ties.”

Chairwoman of the German Bundestag’s Defence Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, said she was “relieved” by the US approval of the deal.

The Arrow 3 system “will be operational by the end of 2025 and on our initiative will become part of a European air defence system,” she told DPA news agency.

“What makes it special is that it is the first anti-ballistic system that can also be used in the stratosphere, i.e. at an altitude of 100km,” Strack-Zimmermann added. “In future, it will help protect Germany and our neighbouring countries from air strikes.”

According to Israel’s Army Radio, the signing ceremony with Germany on the Arrow 3 sale is set for November.