Israel to supply Arrow 3 missile defence system to Germany

Germany is set to acquire Israel's Arrow 3 missile defence system in a multibillion-dollar deal between the two countries.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius, signed the agreement to supply the Israeli-made system to Germany on Thursday.

Israel says the sale is worth some €4 billion ($4.2 billion) and is the largest arms deal in its history.

The Arrow 3 system is intended to offer Germany and its neighbours better protection against possible missile attacks once the first of three Arrow 3 systems are delivered and operational, which Berlin hopes will be within two years.

"It is without exaggeration a historic day for our two nations," Pistorius said after the signing.

Pistorius said that Russian attacks in Ukraine have shown that "air defence is essential, especially for us in the middle of Europe."

The guided missiles are intended to destroy long-range enemy missiles outside the Earth's atmosphere with a direct hit. The German system is planned to reach full capability by 2030.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine prompted Germany and other European NATO allies to re-consider their defence capabilities and address shortcomings in military readiness.

Germany plans to finance the deal with money from its €100 billion special defence fund, which was passed in response to the Russian invasion.

The agreement is seen as a sign of the further strengthening of the special relationship between Germany and Israel. Pistorius said the deal brings "new dimensions to our already unique bilateral cooperation."

"Germany has greatly contributed to Israel's security," Gallant said on Thursday in Berlin. "Today we are proud to do the same for Germany, our strategic partner."

Last month, Israel received permission from the United States to sell the Arrow 3 system to Germany. The missile defence system was jointly developed by Israel and the US.

The budget and defence committees in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, voted in favour of the purchase in June.

Gallant, the son and grandson of Holocaust survivors, called it "a moving event for every Jew" for Israel to sign such an important security deal with Germany, whose Nazi regime persecuted and murdered millions of European Jews.

Germany today is a different country, Gallant said, and the current relationship between Israel and Germany shows "that nations can change their ways."

Gallant was received in Berlin with military honours at the start of his visit.

Before returning to Israel on Friday, Gallant plans to visit the "Platform 17" Holocaust memorial at Berlin's Grünewald train station, which commemorates the approximately 10,000 Jews who were deported in trains from there to concentration camps during the Nazi dictatorship.

Gallant's mother, a Holocaust survivor from Poland, died in May at the age of 88.