Israel on Wednesday handed over its Arrow 3 long-range missile defense system to the German Air Force in a ceremony at an airbase south of Berlin, completing a 4 billion euro ($4.6 billion) sale, the largest defense export deal in Israel’s history.
The completion of the sale, which was formally signed in September 2023, marked the first time the Arrow 3 system has been deployed beyond the borders of Israel and the United States, and the first time the advanced system was operated independently by another country.
The system was deployed at the Holzdorf Air Base in eastern Germany, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Berlin, with additional sites to follow.
From the Israeli side, the ceremony was attended by Defense Ministry Director General Amir Baram; the chief of the ministry’s Directorate of Defense Research & Development, Danny Gold; Israel Aerospace Industries CEO Boaz Levy; the director of Israel’s Missile Defense Organization, Moshe Patel; and other top officials.
German media reported that German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Chancellor Friedrich Merz would not be attending the ceremony, but other German military and defense officials were present.
“As a second-generation Holocaust survivor, I stand here deeply moved because a ballistic missile defense system, developed by the finest Jewish minds in Israel’s aerospace industry, out of our existential necessity, will now help defend Germany,” Baram said at the ceremony, according to remarks provided by the Defense Ministry.
Defense Ministry director Amir Baram speaks at a ceremony marking the handover of Israel’s Arrow 3 missile defense system to the German Air Force at the Holzdorf Air Base, eastern Germany, on December 3, 2025. (Defense Ministry)
“We Israelis, descendants of Holocaust survivors, want to see Germany strong and prosperous, proud and leading in Europe and throughout the world. We deeply appreciate that Israeli systems are part of Germany’s renewed force build-up. Today’s handover marks only the beginning for Israel and Germany. Our cooperation will strengthen and deepen — whether in the air, on land, or in space,” he continued.
Baram said he commended Germany’s decision to lift an arms embargo on Israel. “Such an embargo should never have been imposed against Germany’s ally that is fighting murderous Islamist terrorism, whether it comes from Iran’s theocratic regime or from Hamas in Gaza. When Israel acts against nuclear threats, ballistic missiles, and terrorism, we are not only defending ourselves, we are protecting the entire Western world. We are doing the hard work, sometimes the ‘dirty work,’ that the entire world should be doing,” he added.
Also speaking at the ceremony, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, noted that this year marked 60 years of diplomatic relations between the countries.
“Our partnership is strategic, and Germany is Israel’s most important ally in Europe. Today, we mark another milestone in this relationship. Who could have imagined that only 80 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, the Jewish state, through the technologies it develops, would help defend not only Germany but all of Europe. My family, who fled Germany on the eve of the Holocaust, could never have foreseen this,” Prosor said.
Israel’s Arrow 3 missile defense system is handed over to the German Air Force at the Holzdorf Air Base, eastern Germany, on December 3, 2025. (Defense Ministry)
The Arrow 3 is designed to take out ballistic missiles while they are still outside of the atmosphere.
The system has downed hundreds of ballistic missiles launched at Israel by Iran and the Iran-backed Houthi terror group in Yemen, with an interception rate of 86 percent during the 12-day conflict with the Islamic Republic in June.
The sale represented part of the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative to beef up continental Europe’s air defenses in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ahead of the ceremony, Pistorius told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, “For the first time, this gives us the capability for early warning and protection of our population and infrastructure against long-range ballistic missiles.”
“With this strategic capability, which is unique among our European partners, we secure our central role at the heart of Europe,” he added to the German news agency.
Israel and Germany say that the agreement represents close and growing defense cooperation, which has included joint defense drills and the sale of the Israeli TROPHY active protection system for Germany’s Leopard 2 tanks. The first such tanks were rolled out last month to the German Army and the Norwegian Armed Forces.
