Israel has dispatched a high-level defense delegation to Germany for a ceremony marking the official transfer of the Arrow 3 missile defense system to the German Air Force, a milestone that represents both Israel’s largest-ever defense export deal and a major shift in European air-defense capabilities.

The delegation is led by Defense Ministry Director General Amir Baram and includes several of Israel’s top defense officials: DDRD chief Danny Gold, Israel Aerospace Industries CEO Boaz Levy, Missile Defense Organization director Moshe Patel, and others involved in the program, the ministry announced.

The event will mark the “initial operational capability handover” of the Arrow 3, marking the first time Israel has ever delivered its flagship long-range interceptor to a foreign military.

Valued at nearly €4 billion ($4.6 billion), the Arrow 3 sale to Germany was finalized in September 2023 and stands as the largest defense export agreement in Israel’s history. The system will become the cornerstone of Germany’s expanding missile-defense shield, as Berlin races to strengthen its defenses amid Russia’s war on Ukraine.

For Israel, the transfer represents a major diplomatic and defense breakthrough, deepening strategic ties with Europe’s largest economy and signaling growing demand for Israeli missile-defense technology.

The Arrow 3 — jointly developed by Israel and the United States — is designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere, destroying incoming threats in space before they can reenter.

Israeli officials say the system has successfully intercepted hundreds of ballistic missiles launched by Iran and its proxy, the Houthi terror group in Yemen. The system’s battlefield performance has significantly boosted global interest in Israeli missile defense.

The delivery marks a cornerstone of Germany’s planned “European Sky Shield Initiative,” a multi-nation effort to build a layered air- and missile-defense network across Europe. Berlin has said the acquisition is essential to protecting the continent from the growing ballistic-missile threat from adversaries such as Russia and Iran.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)