Germany is said to have made a preliminary decision to acquire the Israeli-developed Arrow 3 missile defense system.
The report comes just days after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid confirmed that talks on the potential purchase were taking place.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Scholz noted that, nudged by the Russian aggression, Germany set aside a special fund that would include 100 billion euros for investments in the security of Germany.
“We would also like to work together with Israel, for example in the field of air defense, where Israel has a very powerful offer with the Arrow 3 system,” Scholz said.
“Israel, for its part, will play a role in building Germany’s new defense capabilities, especially in air defense,” Lapid added.
According to Bloomberg, who was the first to report Germany’s choice, the purchase could come with a price tag of around 2 billion euros ($2B).
Built by Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) and developed jointly by Israel’s Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) and the US Missile Defense Agency, the Arrow 3 was chosen over the Lockheed Martin-built Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).
The Arrow weapon system is a central part of Israel’s multi-layered defense array. The defense array is based on four layers: Iron Dome defense system, David’s Sling weapon system, the AWS Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 interceptors.
As the uppermost layer, Arrow 3 is designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside of the earth’s atmosphere.
