On Wednesday, 3 December 2025, as announced by the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the German Bundeswehr’s press service, a handover ceremony took place at the Annaburg Heath training area, located at the junction of Saxony, Brandenburg, and Saxony-Anhalt. During the event, the Air Force (Luftwaffe) received its first top-tier Arrow-3 (Hetz-3) missile defense system, designated by the manufacturer as AWS-G (Arrow Weapon System – Germany).
Luftwaffe Inspector General Holger Neumann announces the initial operational capability of the Arrow missile defense system / Photo: Francis Hildemann, Bundeswehr
The Israeli delegation present at the ceremony was led by the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, retired Maj. Gen. Amir Baram; the Ambassador of Israel to Germany, Ron Prosor; the head of the Directorate of Defense Research & Development (DDR&D) at the Ministry of Defense, retired Brig. Gen. Dr. Daniel Gold; the head of the Policy and Political-Military Bureau at the Ministry of Defense, retired Brig. Gen. Dror Shalom; the director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) under the Ministry of Defense, Moshe Patel; and other high-ranking officials.
At the same time, Luftwaffe Inspector General Holger Neumann announced the Initial Operational Capability (IOC), meaning that the first system components, launchers and radars, have been activated and that Luftwaffe personnel have completed their training in Israel.
“With this new system, we gain a new capability, one that fundamentally expands our air defense architecture, strengthens our security in a sustainable way, and is designed solely to defend Germany and protect the people of our country,” said Lieutenant General Neumann, emphasizing: “This project would not have been possible without the deep friendship and trust between Germany, Israel, and the United States. This partnership is more than diplomatic routine. It is based on shared values, genuine reliability, and lived solidarity.”
General Amir Baram highlighted the symbolic significance of the event, noting that a missile defense system developed by some of the most brilliant Jewish minds, born of our existential need, is now defending Germany.
Photos: Israeli Ministry of Defense
The AWS-G will complement the missile-defense capabilities provided by the medium-range MIM-104 Patriot system and the short-/medium-range IRIS-T SLM.
It should be noted that under the agreement of 28 September 2023, worth the equivalent of about 3.5 billion USD, the Israeli side was to deliver the first Arrow-3 system in the fourth quarter of 2025.
It is also worth recalling that, as reported by the German outlets Bild am Sonntag and Tagesschau, on 27 March 2022 Berlin sent an inquiry to Israel regarding the Arrow-3 system in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine slightly more than a month earlier and the real threat posed by the 9K720 Iskander (DIA/NATO: SS-26 Stone) surface-to-surface missile system, including 9M723 Iskander-M ballistic missiles. As later became clear, Germany’s acquisition of the Arrow-3 is intended to be part of the European Sky Shield initiative on joint air and missile defense, signed on 14 October 2022.
On 5 February 2023, it was reported that Germany planned to invest 17 billion EUR in strengthening its air-defense capabilities, including the construction of a multi-layered missile shield composed of IRIS-T, Arrow-3, and MIM-104 Patriot PAC-3 systems.
Already on 8 March of the same year, the United States, as the co-producer of Arrow-3, had (informally) given the green light for the export of Arrow-3 to Germany, while on 20 April the Israeli Ministry of Defense announced that negotiations with the government in Berlin were accelerating.
On 14 June 2023, the standing committees on Budget (Haushaltsausschuss) and Defense (Verteidigungsausschuss) of the German Bundestag approved the Federal Ministry of Defense’s request to procure the Arrow-3 missile defense system, as well as the aforementioned IRIS-T SLM.
Meanwhile, more recently, on 20 November of this year, the Israeli newspaper Globes reported on ongoing talks regarding Berlin’s potential purchase of additional units of this advanced missile defense system.
Arrow-3
Germany is the first export user of the Arrow-3 system, which has been developed with U.S. assistance since August 2008. Over a period of ten years, the U.S. Congress co-funded the system’s development with a total of 996.918 million USD. Flight tests of the prototypes were conducted on 25 February 2013, 3 January 2014, and 10 December 2015. A test scheduled for December 2014 was cancelled. The most recent series of three tests, carried out in cooperation with the U.S. THAAD system, took place on 28 July 2019.
Arrow-3 is the longest-range component of Israel’s multilayered missile defense system. It works in conjunction with the Arrow-2 (Chetz-2), the David’s Sling Weapon System with the Stunner interceptor, and the Iron Dome Defense System with the Tamir interceptor. This configuration has been tested numerous times during rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and, in recent years, Syria. In July 2019, the newspaper Globes reported that the Israeli government had approved the potential export of the Arrow-3 system, and interestingly, there was already foreign interest at that time.
The first battery of the Arrow-3 Block 4 system in its serial configuration was handed over to the Israeli Air Corps on 18 January 2017. The system is designed to intercept medium- and long-range ballistic missiles in the terminal phase of their flight outside the Earth’s atmosphere, the manufacturer states that it can engage up to five targets within half a minute. Its declared range is up to 2,400 km.
The system’s effector is a two-stage interceptor missile without a conventional warhead, using an EKV (Exo-atmospheric Kill Vehicle) kinetic kill vehicle that destroys the target through direct impact. The system also includes the Super Green Pine radar, developed by IAI Elta Systems, the Citron Tree battle management center, and the Hazelnut Tree fire control center, both developed by Elbit Systems.
Israel has used the system in combat during recent missile attacks from Iran in response to Operation Rising Lion, and earlier during Operation Iron Swords. Due to the expenditure of interceptors in these engagements, additional effectors were ordered on 24 December 2024 and 17 July of this year.
HISTORIC MILESTONE: ARROW 3 SYSTEM HANDOVER MARKS NEW CHAPTER IN ISRAELI-GERMAN DEFENSE PARTNERSHIP 🇮🇱🇩🇪
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— Ministry of Defense (@Israel_MOD) December 3, 2025