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Israel Plans Next Missile Interceptor Test
Just a day after Iran tested its updated Shahab 3 missile, Israeli defense sources said today their country is preparing for a new test of its Arrow 2 missile interceptor (see GSN, Aug. 11). “We will put the Arrow through another live run in the near future, pushing the envelope on all its capabilities,” a senior defense source said. The next test of the $2.2 billion U.S.-Israeli Arrow 2 system would again take place in California, according to Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. Israel plans to test the Arrow against a missile closely resembling the upgraded Shahab 3 medium-range missile, Reuters reported. The Israeli system is designed to detect incoming threats and to destroy them at altitudes of more than 50 kilometers within three minutes, according to Reuters. Despite a successful test against a Scud missile last month, the Arrow 2 might not be ready to destroy faster missiles such as the Shahab 3, according to independent analysts. The upcoming test is planned to help boost the Arrow’s speed and accuracy (Dan Williams, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Aug. 12). Meanwhile, Iranian officials said today that the Shahab 3 is meant only for defensive purposes, the Associated Press reported. Supreme National Security Council Secretary Hassan Rohani, traveling in Australia, said the missile had been upgraded in response to Israeli threats. “It is very natural that when our country is being threatened by a foreign country, we have to prepare ourselves,” Rohani said. “Basically, the military doctrine of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a defensive doctrine,” he added (Rod McGuirk, Associated Press, Aug. 12). Elsewhere, the United States renewed its allegation that Iran possessed a clandestine nuclear weapons program which, coupled with its missile capability, poses a threat to regional and world security, Agence France-Presse reported. “The United States has serious concerns about Iran’s missile programs and views Iran’s efforts to further develop its missile capabilities as a threat to the region and to United States interests,” State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said yesterday in a prepared statement (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Aug. 12).
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