Germany on Thursday, December 18, may sign a new agreement with Israel regarding expansion of a contract for supply of Arrow 3 anti-missile defense systems, as well as interceptor missiles for them the deal amount may reach €3 billion (approximately $3.52 billion), while within the framework of the agreement, the parties could also agree that Israel should ultimately significantly increase the pace of Arrow 3 system production.
Bloomberg reports that Germany approved procurement of additional Arrow 3 systems they note that on Wednesday, December 17, the Germans approved a record number of contracts for arms supplies for about $50 billion, and the deal for Israeli systems is in the top five by contract amount compared to other weapons that Germany is purchasing.
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Arrow 3 interceptor missile launch / Photo credit: Israel Aerospace Industries
Earlier, the publication also reported that the Arrow 3 contract between Jerusalem and Berlin provides that the parties can deploy joint missile production in Germany, probably at MBDA Deutschland facilities, however, this was not officially announced.
But at the same time, for Israel this is not a new practice similar conditions were, for example, in the deal with India, when one of the conditions for purchasing the Barak MX air defense missile system was joint missile production with Indian companies.
Reduced model of Oreshnik IRBM / Open source photo
Regarding Germany, it’s worth recalling that immediately after russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Berlin announced plans to purchase air defense systems for protection against ballistic missiles. Ultimately a year later, in September 2023, an agreement was signed between Israel and Germany for supply of Arrow 3 systems to the German military, the deal amount was $3.5 billion and this was a record export contract for Israel.
And as of today, if an additional contract is concluded, the total value of Germany’s order for Arrow 3 systems will amount to as much as $7 billion. At the same time, it’s worth noting that at the beginning of December this year, Germany announced achievement of initial operational capability of the first battery of the German Arrow 3 ABM system.
By the way, in May this year it was reported that the German Air Force also wants to arm itself with the Arrow 4 ABM system, which doesn’t yet exist because its development started in 2021, and as of spring this year it was reported that creation of this system is going through final stages.