Israel Defense Ministry says Arrow 3 trial was not a success or failure

Arrow missle. (photo credit:DEFENSE MINISTRY)

Israel fired a target missile used to test the Arrow ballistic missile defense system on Tuesday, but canceled the firing of an interceptor at the target, the Defense Ministry announced.

Israel defense officials said they decided to abort the firing of the interceptor due to the failure of a series of conditions to materialize, adding that the trial was “neither a success nor a failure.”
During the test, a target missile was fired at Israeli air space from over the Mediterranean Sea. In future trials, the Arrow system will be ordered to intercept incoming mock missiles, something that did not occur this time, the ministry added.The ministry later clarified that during the trial, the target missile flew along its planned path and was tracked by Arrow, but that “the conditions for firing an interceptor were not ripe, and we therefore decided to class the trial as a target missile exercise only.”