After much ado, Israeli Arrow fails to find target

Israelis sources have confirmed a "resounding failure" for a crucial series of live firing tests for the Arrow missile-defense system.

The attempted firings took place in California last week and were intended to assess the efficiency of the upgraded version of Arrow II against an incoming intermediate-range ballistic missile such as the Shahab-3 missile, Associated Press reported.

Although individual elements of the improved system had been tested previously in Israel, the complete system has never been proven against a realistic long-range target due to the lack of space in and around Israel.

According to the US Missile Defense Agency, in one of last week's tests a US Air Force C-17 aircraft launched a dummy missile over the Pacific Ocean.

The Arrow's radar detected and tracked the target and the data was passed to the "battle management control center", however, due to various malfunctions, the Arrow interceptor missile was not launched.

Other communications problems between the radar and the missile prevented a successful launch on two other occasions last week. More