Article Posted on : - Jul 26, 2010

An Arrow missile being test launched. A file photo

JERUSALEM (PTI): Israel and the US have signed an agreement to develop the Arrow III ballistic missile defence system capable of shooting down long range missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere.

The Arrow III will allow Israel “to deal with the threat of ballistic missiles with long range” and will give it “the ability to shoot down weapons of mass destruction at high altitudes,” the Israeli defence ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said that the Arrow III would join the Iron Dome and the Magic Wand systems to provide multi-level defence to the threats faced by the country.

Iron Dome is aimed to counter rockets with a shorter range of up to 60 kilometres, while Magic Wand has a range of hundreds of kilometres.

The Arrow III is designed to shoot down missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere in what is a three-pronged strategy to counter Hamas, Hizbullah and Iran respectively.

All three missile defence systems will be operated by anti-aircraft units of the Israel Air Forces (IAF), which has been working to coordinate the functioning of its layer-cake air defences.

The Arrow is jointly produced by Israel's state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and American Boeing Co, and has received close to $1 billion in direct American funds since its inception in 1988.

The Israel Air Force last year had said the Arrow III would take more than four years to complete and it also depended on resources that were made available for the project.

Washington intended to expand its military aid to Israel in the hopes that such aid would allow the Jewish state to reach tough decisions in its peace talks with Palestine, US Assistant Secretary of State, Andrew J Shapiro had said.