From Iron Dome to Arrow-3

From Iron Dome to Arrow-3

This post is also available in: heעברית (Hebrew)

4464631_sThe “Arab Spring” has increased the rockets and missiles threat on Israel.

“Some of these weapons are targeting Israeli vital civilian, and military installations” says Uzi Rubin, who served as the first Director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization in the Israeli Ministry of Defense

In a special interview to I-HLS Rubin, one of the main speakers in the “Aerial threats in the modern era” conference organized by the Institute for National Security studies (INSS) and I-HLS described the threat and some of the solutions. The conference will be held tomorrow.

Rubin said that the Iranian airforce is not a threat to Israel. But Teheran has embarked years ago on a vast effort to develop some types of ballistic missiles that can easily reach Israel.

Rubin said that Israel is preparing itself. Soon a third Arrow missile battery will be deployed by the Israeli airforce (IAF) in central Israel to increase the overall capability based now on two operational batteries of Arrow -2 missiles.

The three batteries will be interconnected to one command center which will decide what battery or rather what launcher , will achieve the best results after an incoming missile is detected by the “Green Pine” phased array radar.

The third battery will include all the improvements that were introduced in recent years. These are supposed to affect the detection, prioritization and intercept odds.

In the meanwhile, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is working on the development of Arrow-3, a totally different interceptor that is designed for kinetic kills of ballistic missiles armed with unconventional warheads.

i-HLS ISRAEL Homeland Security 

The Arrow 2 and 3 will be the upper layer of a system that is designed to defend Israel from rockets and missiles. The Rafael “Iron Dome” is already intercepting short range rockets. One layer above will be the Rafael -Raytheon “David Sling” designed to intercept longer range rockets and cruise missiles.

Rubin said that it can be assumed with great certainty that Israel will use in, addition to the interceptors, some active operations to suppress the capability of the enemy to launch.

To understand the three tier solution one has to see the full span of the threat.

The basic homemade Kassam rockets used by the Hamas in the Gaza strip is the lowest section of the threat. These simple rockets have caused damage and killed people in Southern Israel in the many rounds of fighting in that area. But the Hamas has beefed up its capabilities with shipments of 122 mm “Grad” rockets that have reached the area through the hundreds of tunnels that were dug along the Gaza – Egypt line.

The rocket arsenal of the Hezbollah in Lebanon is bigger. From 122 “Grad” through Fatah 110 up to Zilzal rockets.

The third arsenal on the Israeli border is the rockets and Scud B/C/D missiles that are part of the Syrian army’s arsenal.

According to Israeli intelligence some of these missiles were fitted with chemical warheads.

But the major threat is from Iran. This country has a big arsenal of long range missiles. While some reports in the Iranian press about new versions of existing missiles are considered false, the experts say that this country can launch a massive ballistic missile attack on Israel.

The Shihab-3 was the first intermediate range ballistic missile that was built by Iran’s military. Its first version has a range of 1300 km. Soon after Iran came with a new model called Shihab 3B, which has a range of 2000 km.

Another ballistic missile in the Iranian arsenal is the Ghadr-110, a medium-range ballistic missile designed and developed by Iran. The missile has a range of 1,800 to 2,000 km

It has a liquid-fuel first stage and a solid-fuel second stage, which allows it to have a range of 2,000 km. It has a higher maneuverability than the Shihab-3 and a set-up time of 30 minutes which is shorter than that of the Shihab-3.

In late 2007, the Iranian Defense Ministry announced that the local missiles industry has developed a new missile with a range of 2000 km. This one was dubbed Ashura.

Some experts say that this missile represents a major breakthrough in Iranian missile technology. It is the first two stage missile, using solid fueled rocket motors instead of the existing liquid fueled technology used on the Shihab.

The new two-stage solid-fuel missile has a range of nearly 2,500 km, it was tested on 12 November 2008. An improved version, the Sajil-2, was tested on 20 May 2009. Improvements include a better navigation system, better targeting system, more payload, longer range, faster lift-off, longer storage time, quicker launch and lower detection possibilities. The Iranians claim that the Sajil long range ballistic missile has a range of 2500 km.

Rubin says that the Iranians sometimes use different names for the same missile, but they agree that with foreign help mostly from North -Korea , the Iranians have ” made a big leap forward” he says.

i-HLS ISRAEL Homeland Security 

So the three tiered Israeli defense system will have to cope with multiple threats.

5  “Iron Dome” batteries are already operational. The aim is to get the budget for another 6.

The “Iron Dome” was developed by Rafael in less than three years. It is designed to cope with rockets that have a 40 km range. By the end of the year “Iron Dome” will be upgraded with a new MMR radar developed by Elta, the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) subsidiary.

Rafael with Raytheon are developing the “David Sling” interceptor that is designed to handle longer range rockets and “other aerial threat”. Rubin says that it can be assumed that the system will be capable of shooting down cruise missiles.

The “Stunner” missile of the “David Sling” system will be very agile with a special motor that will be ignited three times during the flight to the target.`

But the “Arrow-3” is without any doubt, the most advanced interceptor developed now by Israel. The name is misleading as this interceptor is totally different from the operational “Arrow-2”.

While the “Arrow-2” has a proximity fuse that detonates the warhead, the “Arrow-3” is designed a a “hit to kill” interceptor. A kill vehicle is ejected from the main missile and maneuvers itself until it achieves a kinetic kill with the incoming enemy missile.

The “Arrow-3” will intercept outside the atmosphere. It will be much lighter then the “Arrow -2” and will have super maneuverability.

The “End Game” when the kill vehicle will go for the final impact, will not be dependant of any sensors on the ground.


Uzi Rubin, says that the Arrow 3 very high exo atmospheric interception altitudes, coupled with the improved detection, discrimination and fire control , is designed to permit observed fire (“Shoot – look – shoot” ) thus providing at least two and possibly three chances to kill each incoming missile.  The new architecture will thus assure a very high probability of kill against any suspected nuclear missile, as well as being capable of handling larger salvoes of longer range ballistic missiles equipped with countermeasures .

The detection according to Rubin will be performed by an American TPY-2 X Band radar deployed permanently in southern Israel, and by an advanced version of the “Green Pine” detection and fire control radar which is part of the Arrow-3 system.

i-HLS ISRAEL Homeland Security 

Rubin says that Israel is building a veritable multi faceted homeland missile shield against almost every kind of ballistic threat, with the added capability against cruise missiles thrown in. “Apart from the indigenous Merkava tank, there is no other single domestic program in the Israeli defense industry that equals the overall level of this effort”.

By: Arie Egozi

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