The U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the Israeli military confirmed a successful test of the Arrow-3 missile defense system Tuesday. The acquisition is designed to help Israel defend against potential future aggression from nations such as Iran.
Both the Israeli military and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency announced they had successfully tested the defense system in central Israel.
The Arrow-3 is designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside of Earth’s atmosphere and destroy them there to minimise any risk to civilians. This will help negate collateral damage concerns associated with detonating nuclear or biological chemical missiles that could be potentially fired at Israel, closer to the Jewish state.
The Arrow-3 test conducted on the 18th of January consisted of two missiles being fired at an Israeli target and Arrow-3 interceptors being fired in response that were able to successfully destroy the missiles, UPI reports.
The Arrow-3 programme was first successfully tested in 2019 and it has been in production since 2008. The Arrow-3 system is already part of Israel’s multi-layer missile defense system which includes the Iron Dome, as Breitbart News reported.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said the Arrow-3 system will help “Israel’s ability to defend itself against emerging threats.”
The system has been suggested to have been put in place in response to Iran and their nuclear weapon programme, which has been exacerbated by Tehran’s ability to launch ballistic missiles.
Iran has not been confirmed to have nuclear weapons, however, Iranian political analysts have warned that Iran has all the components it needs to manufacture nuclear missiles should they choose to do so.
The Islamic nation’s ability to create weapons came as a by-product of former President Barack Obama’s JCPOA nuclear deal – which allowed Iran to enrich uranium, a key component to developing nuclear bombs.
President Donald Trump did withdraw from the deal in 2018, but President Joe Biden has indicated a potential return to the agreement with Iran – the largest sponsor of terrorist organisations in the world.
Meanwhile Israel continues to work on the upgrade of all its defense capabilities.
Iran currently does not adhere to any international requests on nuclear enrichment, which has led to widespread criticism of the Biden premiership by Republican politicians.
Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher expressed concerns over Biden’s handling of Iran saying that “sternly worded press releases and diplomatic deals in Geneva”, is not a viable solution to dealing with the Islamic nation.
Gallagher has highlighted that Biden has left America in a position where they “don’t have a credible military deterrent” which will allow the U.S.’ enemies “to walk all over” them.