More on that succesful Arrow missile test

DefenseNews has more details on the Arrow test.

In the Feb. 11 test, improved versions of Israel’s operational Block 3 Arrow Weapon System went up against a target programmed to simulate the nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles that Israeli officials expect will be deployed by Iran in coming years. The upgraded defensive system demonstrated its ability to intercept targets at higher altitudes and longer ranges, so that fallout from such mass destructive warheads would remain far away from Israeli territory, officials here said.

“We widened the defensive envelope,” said Uri Sinai, manager of IAI’s MLM Division, which designed and produces the Arrow interceptor. “What distinguished this test was the special target, which was simulated to represent the extreme, difficult conditions in which the Arrow Weapon System may have to operate in the future.”

It was the first so-called distributed weapon system test conducted in-country, which required two Arrow units deployed some 100 kilometers from one another to share data on incoming threats and coordinate launching assignments. It was also the first time the U.S. Link 16 data distribution system was used to connect two Arrow units, although the system had been used in previous tests to connect Arrow and Patriot batteries, sources here said.
According to program officials, both of the Arrow’s two operational Block 3 Green Pine radars acquired and tracked the target almost immediately after it was launched from an Israel Air Force fighter many hundreds of kilometers away in the Eastern Mediterranean. Target data from the remotely deployed Arrow/Green Pine unit was used to manage and command the actual intercept, which was performed by a second unit deployed near the coast in central Israel.

The entire process — from target acquisition to target destruction — took mere minutes, and demonstrated full fidelity of all elements of the integrated system, program officials here said.

“All test objectives were achieved in full. It marked an important milestone in our ability to defend against future threats operating under extreme conditions,” said Israel Air Force Col. Moshe Patel, deputy director of the Arrow Weapon System program at Israel’s Missile Defense Organization.

Of course, the best defense against a nuclear missile is not letting your enemy get one in the first place. But this is a good thing to hear after the spate of “Iran is going to get nukes and there’s nothing we can do about it” articles.