Barak asks US to continue funding Arrow

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Defense Minister Ehud Barak met Thursday with a delegation of US congressmen and urged them to help Israel secure funding for the development and production of the Arrow 3 ballistic missile defense system.

Israel is concerned that the US administration will cut the funding for the Arrow 3 in the context of the cuts Defense Secretary Robert Gates made to the US defense budget. Israel and the US have been jointly funding the development of the Arrow since its inception in the late 1980s. The Arrow is developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Boeing.

The congressional delegation was led by Nita Lowey from New York, who serves as the chairwoman of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee. While it is not Lowey's committee which approves the funding for the Arrow, she is influential on Capitol Hill in securing funding for weapons programs.

Barak gave Lowey a briefing on the recent successful interception tests conducted by the Arrow ballistic missile system and the Iron Dome system, under development to intercept short-range rockets.

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