US stalls approval on Israeli sale of Arrow 3 system to Germany

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
6 Nov 2022 20:20
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Military Monitoring website reports that the United States continues delaying approval for the Israeli occupation to sell its Arrow 3 air defense system to Germany.

The Israeli occupation Arrow 3 air defense system.

According to a report published by the Military Monitoring website, the United States is delaying granting its approval for the Israeli occupation to sell the Arrow 3 missile defense system to Germany.

The Israeli occupation had asked the United States to approve the sale of the Arrow 3 air defense system to Germany, which would be the largest military sales deal in the entity's history worth 3 billion euros.

The site reported that the system that Germany is working on acquiring will be part of the European air defense program of NATO countries called the "European Sky shield initiative".

According to the Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post, Israeli security minister Benny Gantz held talks with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin about the deal as the two sides - Germany and "Israel" - are waiting for American approval, explaining that if the deal is completed, it will be the first time the system is sold to an international customer.

The Arrow 3 system, one of the most advanced air defense systems the occupation has, is capable of intercepting ballistic missiles at altitudes of more than 100 kilometers, with a range of up to 2400 kilometers.

The air security system is an "Israel" Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Boeing joint US-Israeli security project funded by the US annual foreign aid to "Israel" and has been in service with the Israeli Air Force since 2017.

The Arrow 3 system includes components developed by the United States, which previously refused requests from other countries to purchase the system.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz officially expressed in early March an interest in purchasing the system during his meeting with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Earlier in September, Israeli occupation media reports revealed that US President Joe Biden's administration blocked the sale of an advanced Israeli air security system to Germany despite "Israel's" numerous attempts to get US approval.

US approval is required since US taxpayers pay 80% of the project's budget, investing up to $2.2 billion in IAI alleged research and development.

Bloomberg reported later that Germany has chosen the Israeli security system over its rival, the US-manufactured Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) by Lockheed Martin Corp, and Berlin aims to integrate the Israeli system “within the framework of NATO,” despite the Arrow 3 system being relatively new, with no proven efficiency beyond control tests.

The Russian military operation in Ukraine prompted a reset of NATO's position, as the allies significantly increased their defense budgets in addition to sending military equipment to Ukraine or neighboring countries. It also raised hopes that Washington would give the green light to the sale of the "Arrow 3" to Berlin.

Following the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Germany increased its defense budget to 2% of GDP and the country announced that it would establish a special fund worth 100 billion euros (97.6 billion dollars) in order to quickly upgrade its armed forces.

According to a poll published by the German Tagesschau news network, more than 70% of Germans oppose increasing military aid to Ukraine.

In another survey by Deutschlandtrend, 41% of respondents considered Germany's assistance to Ukraine adequate, and 30% labeled it as excessive.

Unlike the American air defense system THAAD, the Arrow series of air systems' usefulness is still debatable, given its repeated failures over the years.

"Israel" admitted in April 2021 that it had failed to fire down stray missiles that had crossed into "Israel" on many occasions, detonating in the air or falling in open regions.