Defense Ministry tests rocket-propulsion system
The Defense Ministry on Monday said it has conducted a test of its rocket-propulsion system at a military base in central Israel.
Images shared on social media showed a projectile streaking through the sky.
Israel has a multi-layered aerial-defense system, and missile-system tests such as these are not uncommon. Rocket-propulsion systems are designed to launch large systems such as satellites, ballistic missiles and large ground-to-air missiles.
The launching, conducted in the early morning hours, was planned in advance and carried out as planned. There was no comment on whether the test was successful nor what system was tested but some speculated that it may be the surface-to-surface Jericho 3, an intercontinental ballistic missile, which according to foreign reports can support a nuclear payload.
In 2013 foreign media outlets reported that the Defense Ministry carried out a test launch of a rocket-propulsion system as part of the development of the Jericho ballistic missile, speculating that the missile had a range of 4,000 km. Israel has since been trying to improve the system, both in terms of range and accuracy and it is now reported to have a range of over 10,000 km.
Others speculated that it was a testing of the Arrow system designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside of the earth’s atmosphere. The Israel Air Force officially received the Arrow-3 interceptors from the Israel Missile Defense Organization in January and according to IMDO Director Moshe Patel, further trials of the system were expected as Israel will continue to work with the United States in developing additional capabilities for the system.
In 2015, while testing the advanced version of the system, the Ministry of Defense announced that one of the tests had failed and another had been called off at the last moment. The first use of the Arrow system occurred in April when the system was launched to intercept three Syrian regime surface-to-air missiles fired towards IAF jets.
Israel’s air defenses currently include the Iron Dome, designed to shoot down short-range rockets and the Arrow system, which intercepts ballistic missiles outside of the Earth’s atmosphere. The David’s Sling missile defense system is designed to intercept tactical ballistic missiles, medium- to long-range rockets, as well as cruise missiles fired at ranges between 40 km. to 300 km.
The advanced systems provide Israel will a comprehensive protective umbrella able to counter threats posed by both short and mid-range missiles used by terror groups in Gaza and Hezbollah as well as the threat posed by more sophisticated long-range Iranian ballistic missiles.
Alongside the July 2015 Iran nuclear deal signed by world powers aimed to curb Tehran’s nuclear program, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution that “called upon [Iran] not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic-missile technology.”
Nonetheless Tehran has since carried out multiple ballistic-missile tests and Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps airspace program, was quoted by the semiofficial Fars News agency as saying that Iran would continue its ballistic missile program despite international criticism.
Israel and the United States remain concerned that Iran has continued to work on its nuclear program, and last week the IRGC said it had established a third underground ballistic-missile production facility in southwestern Iran.