Arrow Testing

In a test in September 1998 the Arrow 2 simulated an intercept against a point in space 97 seconds after being fired from the Palmachim military base south of Tel Aviv. The first integrated intercept flight test was successfully conducted in Israel on 01 November 1999. The Green Pine radar detected a Scud-class ballistic target and the Citron Tree battle management center commanded the launch of the Arrow II interceptor and communicated with it in-flight to successfully destroy the incoming missile.

On 27 August 2001, Israel successfully tested the Arrow-2 anti-missile missile in the ninth test of the anti-ballistic missile system. The target was a missile, called the Black Sparrow, which was dropped from an IAF F-15 fighter jet at high altitude. The Arrow-2 Green Pine radar detected the missile, and the Citron fire-control center launched the Arrow-2 interceptor. The target was intercepted about 100 kilometers from the coastline, the highest and farthest that the Arrow-2 had been tested to date.

On 16 December 2003 an Arrow missile successfully targeted and destroyed an incoming missile in another test of the advance anti-ballistic missile system. It was the 11th test of the Arrow and the 6th test of the onboard weapons system. Defense Ministry officials point out the test was routine as the ASIP (Advanced System Improvement Program) continues.

On July 29, 2004 an Arrow anti-ballistic missile was launched at Point Mugu, CA as part of the on going United States/Israel Arrow System Improvement Program (ASIP). The missile successfully intercepted a short-range target during tests at the Point Mugu Sea Range in Calif. This was the twelfth Arrow intercept test and the seventh test of the complete Arrow system. The objective of the test was to demonstrate the Arrow system's improved performance against a target that represents a threat to Israel. The test represented a realistic scenario that could not have been tested in Israel due to test-field safety restrictions.

All testing of the AWS before the ASIP was conducted in Israel. Because of the limited geography and airspace of the Israeli test range, the ASIP would include tests of the AWS in the U.S. to test the capability of the AWS to engage longer-range threats. Flight tests of the AWS in the U.S. would consist of intercept flight tests at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division Point Mugu Sea Range against various short- and long-range threat representative target missiles launched from the surrounding test range open ocean area. As of 2007 two series, or caravans, of tests are planned in the U.S. over a period of five years.

Caravan 1, completed in FY 2004, consisted of two flight tests necessary to the baseline AWS, including performance of critical subsystem and element level components, against current threat-representative target missiles at realistic ranges. The primary objectives of Caravan 1 were to perform baseline flight tests against current threats at full range, and provide data to evaluate critical performance parameters.

Caravan 2 would consist of two flight tests of the enhanced AWS at Point Mugu against a threat-representative target at approximately full range. To the extent they are available, U.S. theater missile defense (TMD) elements or components would be used in interoperability testing and in data collection. The first flight test is planned to be an engagement of a Long Range Air-Launched Target configuration. The second flight test is planned to be a simultaneous engagement of an LRALT configuration and a Herabased configuration at the maximum possible range allowed by test range constraints.