Israel successfully test-fired its Arrow 3 anti-ballistic missile system 21012151.

The Arrow 3 missile defense system is being developed by the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and its subsidiary Elta, the latter being in charge of the radar detection system. Elisra, a subsidiary of the Israeli company Elbit Systems, developed the Arrow 3's firing management system, while Israeli company Rafael developed the interceptor missile. The American company Boeing also helped develop and manufacture the Arrow 3.

A year ago, a similar test of the Arrow 3 failed, and Thursday morning's test was done after lessons were learned from the previous one.

Defense officials said the Arrow 3 failed to launch during the December 2014 test because it was not able to lock on the target so "a decision was made not to waste the interceptor missile."

Additional tests are planning for the Arrow 3 system in the future.

The Arrow 3 is the main component of Israel's multi-layered defense system that the Defense Ministry is developing in its Research and Development Agency Mafaat. The Arrow 3 is meant to provide the third layer of defense, the highest one, intercepting long-range missiles like the Iranian Shahab-3, which could target Israel from thousands of kilometers away.

In order to avoid the problems that occurred last year, the ministry's Israel Missile Defense Organization decided that in this year's test an Air Force plane would fire the "Sparrow" target missile. When the missile's engine stopped burning, the stages of the target missile would separate and a target would be sent above the atmosphere. Shortly after that, the Sparrow missile would release another target. It was decided to add the second target this time in case something went wrong with the first one.

The Arrow interceptor would then have to identify the target and home in on it — and then destroy it.

Because of the failure last year and the urgency to test the "Arrow 3" and make it operational, it was decided to add a third possibility in the present trial in case there was a problem with both targets. In any case the "Arrow 3" would be launched and allowed to track and home in on the target missile — but in case of a problem with both targets it would be aimed to "explode" the dummy target a predetermined distance away from the original target missile.