Arie Egozi/TEL AVIV
Israeli Aircraft Indus-tries and the Israeli air force successfully performed their first full system test of the Arrow 2 anti-tactical ballistic missile on 1 November.
During the trial, an Arrow 2 launched from the Israeli air force Palmachim test site destroyed a missile launched from a navy vessel moored 10km offshore in the Mediterranean. The Arrow was launched a few seconds after the target missile, meant to simulate a Scud. It took five minutes between the missile launch and its destruction of the target.
Although the Arrow has a proximity fuse to trigger the warhead, the interceptor destroyed the target with a kinetic kill.
"It was like two rifle bullets hitting each other in the atmosphere's boundary", says Yair Ramati, general manager of IAI's MLM division, which developed and manufactured the Arrow 2. IAI has not disclosed the altitude in which the intercept was achieved.
A full system test includes all of the components of the Arrow weapon system including the Elta Green Pine detection and fire control radar, and Tadiran Systems' Citron Tree fire-management system.
Source: Flight International
