Israel tests defence system that can shoot down long-range ballistic missiles in space

Arrow-3 interceptor hailed as a 'major milestone'

An Arrow-3 is launched at a test site in Israel (Israel Ministry of Defence)

Israel has successfully tested an advanced defence system capable of shooting down long-range ballistic missiles while they are still outside the earth’s atmosphere, the country’s military has claimed.

The Ministry of Defence declared development of the Arrow-3 interceptor “a major milestone” in Israel’s ability to defend itself “against current and future threats in the region.”

One expert said the system was designed predominantly as a defence against Iran.

The announcement of the successful tests comes amid mounting tensions in the Middle East and growing fears of conflict between Iran and Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week called the Iranian regime “dangerous” and pledged to “act act if necessary, not just against Iran’s proxies but against Iran itself”.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, he held a charred fragment of what he claimed was an Iranian drone brought down in Israeli airspace this month.

Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who also spoke at the conference, dismissed Mr Netanyahu’s attack as “a cartoonish circus which does not even deserve a response”.

Arrow-3 is part of the multi-layered system Israel is developing to defend against both short- and mid-range rockets fired from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, as well as Iran’s long-range missiles.

In development for a decade, it is designed to intercept ballistic missiles while they are still outside the earth’s atmosphere and is considered one of the most powerful weapons of its kind.

The system was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and US aviation giant Boeing. The successful test was conducted an an unnamed site in Israel following two cancelled trial runs is as many months.

The government described the system as a “significant step up in the air defence of the state of Israel”. Further tests are planned for Alaska later this year.

Yiftah Shapir, head of the Middle East Military Balance Project at the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies, said the system had been developed with Iran in mind.

“The Arrow 3 is specifically designed against very long-range missiles in terms of the Middle East, which means mostly the Iranian threat of ballistic missiles with ranges of over 1,500 kilometres, which is basically the difference between Israel and Iran,” he told New York based newspaper, The Algemeiner.

He said it would likely be “a few years” before the system becomes fully operational.

“People come to think of it as buying a car, and you just get the keys and start driving,” he said. ”You are introducing a very complex system like the Arrow-3, it’s a very long process.”

Tensions between Israel and Iran surged on 10 February when anti-aircraft fire downed an Israeli warplane returning from a bombing raid on Iran-backed positions in Syria.

It was the most serious confrontation yet between Israel and Iranian-backed forces based across the border.