When Israel unveiled the Arrow 3 system in Germany earlier this month, set to protect it from a potential Russian ballistic missile attack, reality was defying human imagination, former IDF air defense chief, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Ran Kochav told The Jerusalem Post.
Noting that this process turns history on its head, he said, “Less than 80 years after Luftwaffe planes terrorized Europe and destroyed our people, the Jewish state provides Germany with the umbrella that will protect its skies. This is the triumph of the Israeli spirit and resilience."
“There is a profound significance in the fact that Germany, 80 years after the Holocaust, is choosing Israeli technology to protect its citizens. This stands as a testimony to the journey that both countries have taken and the mutual trust that has been built,” Kochav continued.
“There are moments in history when reality surpasses all imagination. When the components of the Arrow 3 batteries were delivered to the German government, we witnessed one of these moments,” the former IDF air defense chief went on to say.
'Moments in history when reality surpasses all imagination'
Getting more personal in terms of his concrete experiences commanding the Arrow system as part of Israel’s air defenses, he said, “As someone who commanded this unit, and later the entire IDF system, I remember the long nights in the control stations, the enormous tension before a test, and the heavy sense of responsibility.”
Kochav told the Post that he suddenly became the commander of an Arrow battery overnight after the previous commander was fired.
Although he was of a higher rank, Kochav said he took a series of introductory courses alongside newly trained, non-commissioned soldiers for several weeks, learning about the weaponry, then monitoring the functions, command-and-control systems, and radar systems.
He eventually became commander not only of one Arrow battery, but of all of them, and later, of the entire IDF Air Defense Command.
While Kochav had tremendous pride in his Arrow unit, he told the Post, he was very disappointed when the Second Lebanon War broke out in 2006. His unit’s high level of operational readiness did not match the much lower quality missile threat posed by Hezbollah when it fired its lower-grade weapons at northern Israel.
It would be almost half a decade later before Israel would produce the Iron Dome to combat lower-grade missile threats, given that Jerusalem started developing the Arrow much earlier after being attacked by Iraqi ballistic missiles during the 1991 Gulf War.
Another personal story Kochav shared with the Post was his trip to Alaska after the Second Lebanon War to test-fire the more advanced Arrow 3, which shoots down missiles in outer space.
Kochav laughed about being “frozen like an icicle” and noted that it took three days to travel to the location and three days more to return to Israel for only two days of testing.
But he said he took great pride in shooting down the first ballistic missile with Arrow 3, along with a team that included Boaz Levy, then a missile defense specialist at the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
Levy later became the president and CEO of the IAI, and Kochav became the head of all of Israel’s air defense.
“Back then, the mission was to defend Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem,” Kochav said. “Today, this technology, the fruit of the feverish minds of our best engineers, is being sent to defend Berlin.”
Moving on to describe “the pinnacle of technology,” he said that “the Arrow 3 is no longer a missile; it is a ‘suicide spacecraft.’ The ability to hit-to-kill iron-on-iron outside the atmosphere, in space, at hypersonic speeds, is science fiction that has become a reality thanks to Israeli engineers.”
Moreover, Kochav said, the Arrow “uses an advanced homing head (Kill Vehicle) that intercepts and destroys the target using kinetic energy alone (hit-to-kill). This technique is the most accurate and cleanest for destroying ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere.”
Exploring another prominent aspect of this moment’s significance, he stated, “Selling the Arrow 3 air defense system to Germany… is the largest defense export deal in Israel’s history and a significant milestone that redefines Europe’s multilayered air defense architecture.”
“This purchase, carried out within the framework of the German-led European Sky Shield initiative, constitutes an urgent strategic response to the increasing threat of ballistic missiles from Russia. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the widespread use of modern ballistic missiles have demonstrated the critical gap in European air defense capabilities.”
Further, Kochav said, “While existing systems deal with low- and medium-altitude threats (within the atmosphere), Europe lacks an upper tier capable of intercepting long-range threats capable of carrying warheads of mass destruction.”
“The Arrow 3 was chosen to fill exactly this gap,” he said, noting its “ability to destroy ballistic missiles (such as the SS-26 Iskander or future Russian long-range missiles) in outer space, far from European territory, which dramatically reduces the potential damage from remnants, including nuclear and chemical warheads.”
Another unique aspect of Israel's provision of the Arrow 3 system to Germany is its combat-proven status.
According to Kochav, “We do not sell presentations. The system proved itself on April 14, 2024, and again in early October [2024], on the night of the Iranian missile attack, and it was part of the warfare in Operation Rising Lion. It was also a key component throughout the Israel-Hamas War against threats from Yemen and Iran. Germany is buying proven security.”
“Israel is the only country in the world with daily operational experience in operating multilayered defenses. This knowledge, accumulated over tens of thousands of operational hours, cannot be bought – but we are going to share it with Germany,” he said.
In addition, the former air defense chief said, “We are not just selling a system – we are committed to a long-term partnership. There will be full support, ongoing training, and technological upgrades in line with evolving threats.”
There is also an engineering aspect to this major event.
“When the world looks at Israel in recent months, it will see not only brave warriors, but also a nation capable of producing groundbreaking engineering solutions and technology – unique solutions to problems that almost no one else knows how to solve,” said Kochav.
Finally, he said that “The IAI’s Elta’s AESA radars and the MLM Division’s Arrow missiles constitute an unparalleled technological combination. Our ability to update software, adapt to new threats, and improve performance – this is what sets us apart.”
Circling back to Israel-German relations, Kochav said, “This is not just a technology sale. This is a deep strategic partnership with Germany and NATO, based on mutual trust and shared values of protecting civilian lives.”