Israel Missile Test Has Another Success

J E R U S A L E M, Sept. 15 -- The developers of the Israeli Arrow missile system say it is ready for use.

An Israeli Arrow missile from the largely U.S.-funded weapons system intercepted and destroyed a missile launched off the Israeli coast on Thursday.

Although the Arrow has hit missiles in previous tests, this wasthe first time it had intercepted a small, high-speed missilehead-on.

The target missile was launched from an F-15 warplane, whichmakes it more difficult to track and intercept. The Arrow waslaunched from the ground.

“The Arrow was fired at the target in a stable, precise manneruntil it hit and destroyed the target,” said Daniel Peretz, headof the Arrow program at Israeli Aircraft Industries.

Peretz said the Arrow is now operational. “If one day, we willneed it, the system is functioning,” he told Israel radio.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak said the successful test strengthens“the strategic deterrent capability of the state of Israel.”

Project Dates Before Gulf War

The Arrow project dates to 1988, before Iraq demonstrated theneed for it by pounding Israel with 39 Scud missiles during the1991 Gulf War.

Although the Scuds carried only conventional warheads, they didextensive damage and demonstrated Israel’s vulnerability to nuclearmissiles if launched from Iraq and Iran, both hostile to the Jewishstate.

Both also are believed to be trying to acquire a nuclear weaponscapability.

Development of the Arrow is expected to cost more than $2billion, with more than half the funding coming from the UnitedStates.

Critics of the project argue that it is prohibitively expensiveand that no anti-missile defense system can stop all of the enemy’smissiles.

They say the only effective defense against ballistic nuclearmissiles is deterrence, meaning development of a second-strikecapability, and they say that money should be spent in that area.

Israel’s Defense Ministry said seven out of eight Arrow testshave been successful.