The Arrow or Hetz is a family of anti-ballistic missiles designed to fulfill an Israeli requirement for a theater missile defense system that would be more effective against ballistic missiles than the MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile. Jointly funded and produced by Israel and the United States, development of the system began in 1986 and has continued since, drawing some contested criticism. Undertaken by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Boeing, it is overseen by the Israeli Ministry of Defence's "Homa" administration and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.
The Arrow system consists of the joint production hypersonic Arrow anti-missile interceptor, the Elta EL/M-2080 "Green Pine" early-warning AESA radar, the Tadiran Telecom "Golden Citron" ("Citron Tree") C3I center, and the Israel Aerospace Industries "Brown Hazelnut" ("Hazelnut Tree") launch control center. The system is transportable, as it can be moved to other prepared sites.
The first launch of the Arrow 1 interceptor took place on August 9, 1990, designed to test the missile's control and guidance systems. The test came to a halt seconds after take off and the missile was intentionally destroyed due to fears it might go off track and hit a settled location. This was caused by the failure of the ground tracking radars to track the missile's trajectory. Test number two took place on March 25, 1991. Designed to check missile components during launch, it was conducted from a ship at sea. Once again a missile malfunction resulted in the abortion of the experiment. A third test, designed to examine the Arrow's interception capabilities, was conducted on October 31, 1991. The missile was once again launched from a ship at sea, and was once more aborted because of a repeat of previous malfunctions.
On September 23, 1992, in another test of the missile components during launch, the systems finally operated as planned and the Arrow reached its designated point in the sky, 45 seconds after launch. As planned, the missile was then destroyed. This successful experiment ended the system's preliminary testing phase. The fifth, sixth, and seventh tests took place on February 28, July 14, and October 14, 1993 respectively. During these, the Arrow managed to pass in close proximity to the target missiles, thereby proving its ability to intercept surface-to-surface missiles. During test number eight on March 1, 1994, the missile was not launched due to a ground computer failure. The ninth test launch on June 12, 1994, also known as ATD#1 (Arrow Demonstration Test 1), saw an Arrow 1 successfully intercepted a target missile launched from a ship anchored in the middle of the Mediterranean.
The Arrow 1 was reportedly a two-stage solid propellant missile, with an overall length of 7.5 m (24.6 ft), a body diameter of 1,200 mm (47.2 in), and a launch weight of around 2,000 kg (4,400 lb). It was estimated that the second stage had a length of 2.5 m (8.2 ft), and that it had inertial and command update mid-course guidance, with a terminal infrared focal plane array. The missile was described as being relatively high-speed and maneuverable, with thrust vectoring in the both stages. The range capability has been described as around 50 km (31 mi). On the other hand, the Arrow 1 could be a single stage missile. Development of the "big and cumbersome" Arrow 1 then ceased and further research continued with the "smaller, faster and more lethal" Arrow 2.
