Germany plans to buy Israel's Arrow-3 missile defence for 4 bln euros

10/6/2023 7:10

        Germany plans to buy Israel's Arrow-3 missile defence system for almost 4 billion euros ($4.30 billion) in total, and will ask lawmakers to release advance
        payments of up to 560 million euros next week, according to documents seen by Reuters on Friday.
        
        The Arrow-3 is designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside of the earth's atmosphere.
        
        It is the top layer of Israel's missile defence array, which extends from Iron Dome that intercepts short-range rockets to Arrow-3's long-range missiles that destroy any non-conventional warheads at a safe altitude.
        
        Berlin aims to strike a government-to-government deal with Israel on the purchase of the Arrow-3 system at the end of the year, said the finance ministry's procurement documents that were prepared for parliament.
        
        Germany will lose part or all of its advance payments should the deal fail, according to the papers, as the money would be used to compensate Israel for costs incurred by then.