In Europe as a whole, the intercept data of the Israeli air defense systems – in cooperation with the air forces of the United States, Great Britain and Jordan – were looked at with admiration in the face of the massive attack by Iran on Saturday night. However, in Germany, the only country that has so far purchased the Arrow 3 system, one could feel the satisfaction about the decision, and especially hearing the question: “When will the system protect us?”.
“How mIsrael’s air defense systems – “Iron Dome” and “Hats 3″ – are working, and when will Germany get one of them?” declared the headline in the German newspaper “Tagsspiegel” on Monday morning. Unlike Finland, for example, Germany did not purchase the Iron Dome system.
“The ‘Arrow’ defense systems played a central role in intercepting 99% of the threats sent from Iran,” wrote the “Frankfurter Rundschau”, reminding its readers: “Germany purchased the Arrow 3 system for protection against long-range missiles, as part of changing its security concept against the background of the war in Ukraine”. The networks and television showed what appeared to be an interception of the system at the edge of the atmosphere, which created an explosion in blue tones.
International interest on an extraordinary scale
In other European countries as well, the air defense performance received media coverage. Along with the fact that the Iranian UAVs were intercepted, among other things, with the help of the American Air Force, which credited it with about 80 aborts, the fact that 99% of the aerial threats were neutralized, and that no significant injuries were recorded, made headlines in Italy, France, and the United Kingdom.
Recently, the media noted that the British Air Force “took part in the largest military operation since the war in the Falkland Islands”, but devoted articles to “Israel’s multiple layers of defense”. “This is the technology that Israel used to neutralize the Iranian threats,” wrote the London Times on Monday morning.
Globes has learned that the major defense companies, which are part of Israel’s air defense system, have encountered international interest in their technologies in recent days – to an extent that they do not remember in their corridors from such an event. The high-powered offense’s historic volume of interceptions likely took its toll.
“A low price for the protection of 83 million people”
The current enthusiasm in Germany stems, among other things, from the fact that when they finally signed the deal for the purchase of the Arrow 3 system, including the “Oran Adir” radar which is supposed to detect launches at a range of thousands of kilometers, the “Arrow” system was still only a success in trials.
In contrast to the Iron Dome system, which has proven itself time and time again in public and was known even to the general public in Germany, the unique system that Israel developed in cooperation with the American “Boeing” company to intercept ballistic missiles while in the atmosphere, has proven itself in only a few tests.
The Germans, for their part, did not hesitate with the purchase. Almost from the moment when the Ukraine war broke out, Berlin aimed to move forward with the procurement as quickly as possible. “The truth is that we in Europe are completely unprotected against air attacks,” said FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmerman, who was one of the main forces that pushed for the purchase, in her previous position as chairman of the Bundestag’s security committee. She discussed the issue with her Israeli colleagues as early as April 2022.
As part of the effort to move forward as quickly as possible, the Germans even allocated about 500 million euros to the Israeli side in June 2023, before they even received final approval for the purchase of the system from the American authorities. Even before that, when Washington hesitated to grant the same approval, Chancellor Olaf Schulz took a rare active step, flying to the US in January 2023, to personally ask President Joe Biden for a “green light” to carry out the sale.
Such approval was necessary in light of American involvement in the development of the arrow. After that, the demand that came from the German side was that, despite the delay caused by the American hesitation for nearly a year, the system would be deployed and become operational as soon as possible.
Chancellor of Germany, Olaf Schulz / Photo: Reuters
The Germans also did not hesitate to open their pockets and pay generously. The cost of purchasing the system, including the radar, control cars and other components, is three billion euros. Together with additional internal German expenses, or issues of training and coaching, the price may climb to four billion euros. This, without taking into account the costs of the interceptor missiles In any case, this is the biggest security deal in the history of the State of Israel. “This is a low price for the protection of 83 million people,” a military expert told the NTV news channel this week.
“The best thing we know on the market”
Therefore, as far as Germany is concerned, the performance of the Arrow system against Iran’s ballistic missiles launched in large numbers this week is proof that their investment was wise. Even if the US reports that half of the ballistic missiles missed their destination, went off course or exploded, intercepting more than 50 ballistic missiles at the same time as drone and cruise missile threats is an achievement on a historic scale.
This is why Andreas Schwartz, the social democratic politician who currently heads the defense budget committee, told the German media on Monday that the events of the last few days prove that Germany must defend itself “better, and to do that, we urgently need European missile defense led by Germany.” He informed the public, in response to questions on the matter, that “despite the war in Gaza, Israel plans to deliver the Arrow 3 system at the agreed upon time.” The plan is to make it operational in the fall of 2025.
As usual, Germany does not take this step in the field of security policy alone, but formed a coalition of countries around it, members of the same collective initiative for air defense that Schwartz mentioned, called “Sky Shield” (European Sky Shield Initiative). The concept behind it is that the air defense system that Germany is building for itself, part of which is based on the “Arrow”, the “Patriot”, IRIS-T missiles and more, will make it possible to share costs by protecting a large area of Europe against ballistic threats.
Germany may be the one that bought the sophisticated radar, the control cars and the first interceptors, but in the second phase of the initiative any country will be able to purchase interceptors “and benefit” from the German defense, which was actually developed in Israel. first”, and that other countries might join in the future.
More than 20 European countries have already joined the initiative, including NATO members such as Greece and Turkey and neutral countries such as Switzerland, although there has been significant opposition from France and Italy. Both countries oppose the German approach of purchasing weapons systems outside the European Union, and demand to invest in the development of similar systems Independent.
The Germans have already chosen a place for the system’s first interceptor battery – the Holzdorf air force base in the east of the country. For German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, there were no doubts about the purchase already at the signing ceremony in September 2023. “We are buying this system because it is the best thing we know on the market,” he said inVisiting Israel, “As long as we are in power, we will stick to ‘Hats 3’, because it is an excellent system.”
