Israel firm pitches Arrow missile defense for US shield

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is promoting its Arrow missile defense system for US deployment following President Donald Trump’s executive order mandating a national missile shield, IAI CEO Boaz Levy told Semafor.

As Defense One reported, "the next-generation missile defense shield dubbed 'Iron Dome for America' in a Jan. 27 executive order is now being called 'Golden Dome,'" per a defense official. 

The Arrow system was developed with the US Missile Defense Agency and has served as Israel’s primary defense against long-range threats. Its performance against Iranian missile attacks in April and October 2024 showcased its real-world effectiveness.

“We believe President Trump means he needs something Arrow-like,” Levy said at a defense conference in Abu Dhabi, signaling IAI’s interest in collaboration.

Beyond the US, IAI is eyeing Gulf markets, including the UAE, dependent, of course, on normalization agreements and US export approvals. Germany has already committed $3.5 billion for Arrow 3, part of a growing demand for high altitude missile defense.

IAI’s backlog reached $25 billion in November 2024, with revenue at $5.3 billion. War-driven demand lifted net income 74 percent in the first nine months of 2024 to $416 million.

Deploying Israel’s Arrow missile defense system to guard the homeland faces significant technical hurdles, such as complex integrations with American sensors and command networks, and vulnerabilities to advanced countermeasures like decoys and hypersonic weapons. Strategically, it complicates the layered defense doctrine and raises geopolitical concerns, while the substantial financial investments for development, deployment, and long-term maintenance challenge its overall cost-effectiveness.