Israel Aircraft, Boeing Sign Arrow Missile Deal

TEL AVIV – U.S. aerospace giant Boeing and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) signed an agreement for Boeing to make parts of the Arrow anti-ballistic missile system in the United States, IAI said on Monday.

It said the value of the deal is confidential.

The Israeli government had sought U.S. approval for IAI to hold talks with U.S. companies to increase the production rate of parts for the Arrow system to speed up deployment of the missiles, state-owned IAI said in a statement.

The Arrow is the world's only operational anti-ballistic missile system, IAI said.

Boeing will produce around 50 percent of the Arrow components in the United States while IAI will carry out integration and final assembly of the missiles in Israel.

Boeing will set up production lines for various parts and coordinate the production of parts already being made in the United States.

Up to now, more than 150 American companies in 25 states have been making Arrow parts which were then assembled by IAI.

Delivery of the first Arrow parts is scheduled to take place about 20 months after receipt of a production order, IAI said.

Israel's Globes financial Web site reported the cost per missile to Israel would be between $1 million to $4 million.