2023-06-14 18:20:56
The budget committee of the Bundestag approved Wednesday, June 14 a first tranche of funding for Germany to acquire an Israeli anti-missile protection system as part of its rearmament decided after the invasion of Ukraine.
This Arrow 3 anti-missile system, costing a total of 4 billion euros, is equipped with radars, launchers and guided missiles capable of destroying targets beyond the atmosphere.
The envelope released on Wednesday concerns 560 million euros for a future pre-contractual agreement with Israel.
Delivered end of 2025
The German government has “the intention to establish the national missile defense capability as quickly as possible with the planned acquisition of the Arrow weapon system”, emphasizes the Ministry of Finance in a document intended for the Budget Committee. The Israeli system must “contribute to the protection of Germany, the population and critical infrastructure against ballistic missiles”, according to this document.
This could be delivered in late 2025, according to the courier, pointing out that, “in total, the budgetary requirements for the acquisition of the Arrow weapon system are estimated at 3.99 billion euros in the current state of knowledge”.
After several decades of underinvestment in its defence, Germany has acted, through the voice of its chancellor Olaf Scholzand “change of time” after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The Social Democratic leader thus set up a fund of 100 billion euros in favor of the German army.
A system capable of intercepting ballistic missiles
The Arrow system is developed and manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in collaboration with the American aircraft manufacturer Boeing. Arrow 3 has been in use at Israeli airbases since 2017. The system is designed for long-range missile defense. Israel thus protects itself against attacks from Iran or Syria.
According to the Israeli manufacturer IAI, the system is capable of intercepting ballistic missiles above the atmosphere, fired at a distance of up to 2,400 kilometers. It is considered to be strong enough to also provide protection to countries neighboring the EU if it were to be installed in Germany.
Supplement to existing German missile defense
Arrow missiles have a significantly greater range than those of the Patriot air defense system and the Iris-T system used so far in Germany. The budget committee has also approved around 950 million euros for the purchase of six additional German-made Iris-T SLM air defense systems.
Arrow 3 would therefore be a complement to the existing German missile defense. The system could make a decisive contribution to the project of “European Sky Shield”. This initiative by Olaf Scholz, aimed at creating a European air and anti-missile defense system through the joint acquisition of equipment and missiles, already brings together several countries on the continent, but neither France nor Poland.
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