Israeli manufacturers successfully test new missile system

Israeli missile manufacturers successfully tested the new Arrow 2 Weapon System over central Israel on Tuesday, with ministers later saying it represented an advance in the country’s defence.

The Arrow 2, a hypersonic weapon developed jointly with American teams, successfully intercepted a Sparrow long-range surface-to-surface missile in a test conducted at 11.45pm.

Defence Minister Benny Gantz said: “Our elite technological unit ensures that we will always be one step ahead of our enemies.”

The Arrow is family of anti-ballistic missiles jointly funded by the US and Israel since its initial development in 1986, with earlier iterations having been deployed by the IDF since 2000.

This week’s test was coordinated by government-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) together with Israel’s Ministry of Defence and the Israeli Air Force, and while few technical details were released, engineers said “the various layers of Israel’s air defence mechanism were employed” to ensure the missile’s effectiveness.