The Arrow 3 is meant to intercept ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere. Tests were led by Israel Aerospace Industries and Defense Ministry along with the American Missile Defense Agency
On Saturday it was reported by Channel 13 News that Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer made a rare visit to Alaska a week and a half ago. The visit took place while senior American officials were in Israel to discuss strategic matters concerning Iran. Prior to Dermer’s visit in Alaska, he was in Israel for two weeks and reportedly spent a lot of time in the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Earlier this week, Iran tested a Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missile this week, a U.S. defense official told a number of media outlets on condition of anonymity. The missile flew about 1,000 km (620 miles) on Wednesday night, the New York Times reported on Thursday.
The test did not pose a threat to shipping or any U.S. forces in the region, the official said.
The U.S. military intelligence assessment was that the launch was part of Iran’s efforts to improve the accuracy and range of its missiles, CNN reported. According to the Israeli government, the Shahab-3 is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
This comes amid rising tensions between Tehran and Washington in the last few months. The Trump administration is following a policy of broad economic sanctions to put pressure on Iran, which has led the Islamic Republic to violate conditions of the multipartite 2015 nuclear deal.
Netanyahu praised the tests on Sunday during the weekly government meeting, saying “The execution was perfect. Today Israel has the capacity to act against ballistic missiles launched at us from Iran or anywhere else.”
In May 2018, the Israeli Ministry of Defense and its American counterpart postponed the joint test of the Arrow 3 missile system, which was to take place in Alaska, due to technical difficulties.
Israel successfully tested the Arrow 3 missile system in January, also with the MDA, in central Israel.
The Arrow 3 is considered the next generation of defense systems, capable of attacking targets at from great distances and heights at a much higher speed. Today the Israeli army uses the Arrow 2, which has been operational for a few of years. It also uses an older version of the Arrow 3, given to the army in January 2017. The new system currently in testing will likely grant the army an ability to deal with more complex scenarios.
Global News 
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