The German government has asked lawmakers to approve a budget advance for the purchase of Israel’s Arrow 3 air defense system, for €4 billion, documents consulted by the AFP on Tuesday revealed.
The long-range Arrow 3 system, designed to launch missiles above Earth’s atmosphere, is powerful enough to cover Poland, Romania and the Baltic states, according to the Blid newspaper.
Documents from the Ministry of Finance and Defense consulted by AFP show that the German government has asked the budget committee of the House of Representatives, which meets next Wednesday, for an advance of 560 million euros for the purchase of the air system of deterrence. .
The Arrow 3 system is expected to cost a total of $3.99 billion, the documents say, a billion more than initially estimated.
The money will come from a historic €100 billion fund unveiled by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to bolster German defenses after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
This announcement marks a major turning point for Germany after years of under-investment in the military.
If the deal goes through as planned, Berlin expects the Arrow 3 system to be delivered in the last quarter of 2025.
The German government is leading an effort to bolster NATO’s air defenses after the Russian attacks on Ukraine, encouraging allies to buy joint deterrent systems.
So far, more than a dozen European countries have joined the initiative called European Sky Shield to help protect NATO’s airspace.
Germany believes this Israeli system will play a key role in these efforts.
According to Blid newspaper, the radar system would be installed at three locations in Germany and the monitoring data would be sent to a central location where soldiers watch for threats 24/7.
If an attack was identified, the Arrow 3 would be launched to intercept the missile in space and destroy it there.
Source: DN
