A senior defense official cited in the report described the situation as \u201ccrazy,\u201d saying, \u201cThe Iranians fire at us twice \u2014 hundreds of missiles \u2014 and it doesn\u2019t move anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t A special defense budget committee led by Prof. Jacob Nagel recommended an increase in Arrow 3 production at the end of 2024, but the proposal was not acted upon.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter the Nagel Committee, they already knew they were heading toward a possible attack on Iran, and still, nothing moved,\u201d the defense official said, seemingly in reference to preparations ahead of the June 2025 conflict. \u201cIt\u2019s clear to everyone there aren\u2019t enough Arrow 3s.\u201d<\/p>\n An Israeli official cited in the report claimed that members of Netanyahu\u2019s government, namely Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, advocated for taking offensive measures against Iran instead of investing in defense in the form of interceptor missiles.<\/p>\n \u201cSmotrich says in the meetings: \u2018Anyways, we won\u2019t be able to deal with [Iran\u2019s] surface-to-surface missiles. They have many more missiles than we have interceptors, and the only way is to attack them, not invest in defense,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n A single Arrow 3 missile has an estimated price of $2-3 million and takes a few months to produce, although the exact time frame has not been made public by Israel due to security concerns.<\/p>\n In December 2025, the Defense Ministry signed a deal with the Israel Aerospace Industries for the defense firm to expand its production of Arrow 3 interceptor missiles.<\/p>\n The Defense Ministry announced the deal earlier this month, saying it would \u201cenable a substantial increase in the production rate and quantity of Arrow interceptors.\u201d<\/p>\n But starting with last year\u2019s 12-day war through the latest round of fighting, which began on February 28, no additional steps were taken to expand Israel\u2019s interceptor missile stockpile, Channel 12 reported \u2013 despite repeated efforts by defense officials, including Defense Ministry Director General Amir Baram, to push for an increase.<\/p>\n The findings add to longstanding concerns that Israel\u2019s interceptor stockpile has been under strain, particularly during repeated rounds of fighting with Iran \u2014 concerns that government and military officials have attempted to downplay, even as foreign reports suggested that Jerusalem was being forced to ration its interceptors.<\/p>\n \t Israel has a multi-layered air defense array, with a variety of systems intercepting threats at different altitudes.<\/p>\n The top tier consists of the anti-ballistic missile Arrow systems, with Arrow 2 operating both within the Earth\u2019s atmosphere and in space, and Arrow 3 intercepting above the Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n During the recent fighting with Iran, which was halted with a ceasefire on April 8, some 650 ballistic missiles were launched at Israel by Tehran.<\/p>\n In all, at least 16 missiles carrying conventional warheads with hundreds of kilograms of explosives struck populated areas in Israel, causing extensive damage. There were also more than 50 incidents of missiles carrying cluster bomb warheads hitting populated areas, with hundreds of separate impact sites.<\/p>\n Twenty-one Israeli civilians and foreign and foreign nationals were killed in Israel in the Iranian ballistic missile attacks, along with four Palestinians in the West Bank.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\tIsraeli security forces and rescue teams work amid the rubble of a residential building struck by an Iranian missile in Haifa, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ariel Schalit)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DSC_1445-640x400.jpg\")
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\n\t\tA man inspects the damage of an Iranian cluster missile strike in Bnei Brak, April 5, 2026. (Stav Levaton\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n
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