Failure of Arrow 2 Test Admitted

It took a few months, but the Israeli Defense Ministry admitted on Tuesday that the last test of the Arrow 2 missile defense system was a failure, Arutz Sheva reported.

The test in September 2014, as well as a test of the Arrow 3 conducted in December, failed, admitted the Defense Ministry, confirming speculation to that effect in the media.

However, officials said that in the latter case the fault was not with the system itself but a malfunctioning missile.

In September, the Defense Ministry, together with the American Missile Defense Agency (MDA), claimed a success in a simulated ballistic missile attack by Iran on Israel, firing a single Arrow (Hetz) 2 missile.

But the Russian military observers stationed on ships in the Mediterranean challenged that result. Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that the target missile, which was supposed to be intercepted in the test, was found by Russia in the Mediterranean Sea, over 180 miles from Tel Aviv.

A senior Israeli security source at the time would not be pinned down on what happened, saying only that “the final results [of the test] still can’t be determined. Several days will be required to process the figures.”

This article appeared in print on page 42 of the February 25th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.