![\"Israeli](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1759682893_991_960x0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Israeli soldiers raise an Arrow missile launcher to it’s up right position during a tour for foreign correspondents at the Palmahim air force base south of Tel Aviv on November 7, 2002. (SVEN NACKSTRAND\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
In recent months, Israel has faced mounting pressure from several European countries over its conduct in the war in the Gaza Strip. Nevertheless, that hasn\u2019t stopped some European countries from purchasing Israel\u2019s battle-tested air defense systems. Furthermore, Ukraine has confirmed that Israel made available the American-made MIM-104 Patriot PAC-2 systems Israel retired last year, a much-needed addition to Kyiv\u2019s strained air defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Israeli system has been operating in Ukraine for a month,\u201d Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters<\/a> on September 27. \u201cWe will receive [another] two Patriot systems in the fall, that\u2019s all I\u2019m going to say.\u201d <\/p>\n Additionally, Ukrainian media reported on<\/a> the return of a Ukrainian An-124 heavy-lift cargo plane from Israel. The report noted that the aircraft carried \u201ccontainers outwardly identical to containers used by the Israeli military to transport Patriot interceptor missiles.\u201d <\/p>\n Israel officially denies supplying Kyiv with any of these systems. It maintains that it merely returned the systems to the U.S. after retiring them from service. Washington is widely believed to have first refurbished them before transferring them to Ukraine. <\/p>\n While Israel operated the PAC-2 variant of the Patriot, which uses a proximity fuse to destroy incoming targets rather than the hit-to-kill technology used in the more advanced PAC-3, Kyiv needs all the air defense it can get. Russia\u2019s drone bombardments show no sign of any let-up, with fears that Moscow could soon launch a 2,000-drone barrage<\/a> in a single night!<\/p>\n In one particularly nasty incident on September 30, an entire family of four, including two children aged four and six, perished<\/a> in an overnight drone strike on a residential building in a village in the northeastern Sumy region. Overnight strikes against another village in the western Lviv region on Saturday similarly killed four members<\/a> of the same family. <\/p>\n Zelensky said over a year ago that his country requires 25 Patriot systems<\/a> to cover its enormous airspace completely. Ukraine is unlikely ever to receive that amount. Germany recently pledged two systems<\/a> for Ukraine. It\u2019s unclear how many of the ex-Israeli systems Kyiv will ultimately receive, with previous reports suggesting as many as eight, which would be a substantial contribution.<\/p>\n While Israel doesn\u2019t seek public recognition for transferring the Patriots, which it has always felt were highly overrated<\/a> since first receiving them in the early 1990s, it has publicly made several significant export deals for its homegrown air defenses to Europe. Many European countries are understandably worried about gaps in the continent\u2019s air defense, especially against Russia\u2019s strategic missiles. And few countries have advanced air defenses as rigorously battle-tested as Israel. <\/p>\n Take Finland, for example. Sharing a lengthy border with Russia and a history of invasion, Helsinki has always kept its powder dry. Despite its small population and modest wealth compared to its Scandinavian neighbors to the west, it has always consistently maintained an effective military, packing the largest artillery arsenal in Western Europe. Only a year after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Finland ordered a large fleet of F\/A-18 Hornets. Just before Russia fatefully invaded Ukraine in 2022, Helsinki ordered 64 fifth-generation F-35A Lightning II stealth jets to replace those aging Hornets, a massive investment for such a small country. <\/p>\n More recently, in November 2023, Helsinki turned to Israel for improving its ground-based air defenses and made an interesting choice: the David\u2019s Sling. In Israeli service, the David\u2019s Sling covers the middle part of that country\u2019s multilayered air defense between the Arrow 3, designed for intercepting ballistic missiles above the atmosphere, and the short-range Iron Dome that intercepts small rockets. Finland has become the first foreign buyer of that system.<\/p>\n The Stunner missile fired by David\u2019s Sling boasts a more extended range<\/a> than the Patriot PAC-2, costs less, and can engage multiple targets, including tactical ballistic missiles, from 25 to 190 miles away. <\/p>\n For Finland, these systems could deter or defend against a multitude of Russian threats and offensive munitions and shield high-value targets in the country. Combined with its recent ascension into NATO, Russia may think twice about potentially attacking its northern neighbor. <\/p>\n The central European country of Slovakia recently chose Israel\u2019s Barak MX system to replace its strategic S-300 air defense missile system inherited from the Soviet Union and donated to Ukraine shortly after the 2022 Russian invasion. As with David\u2019s Sling, the Barak can defend against a range of threats from drones to cruise missiles and even tactical ballistic missiles. <\/p>\n The Republic of Cyprus, which attempted to acquire S-300s in the 1990s, recently received<\/a> the Barak MX. Fielding that system will significantly enhance Cypriot air defense coverage to the extent that some on the partitioned island fear<\/a> it could dangerously escalate tensions with Turkey. While the Cyprus acquisition wasn\u2019t by a European country that views Russia as a primary threat, it nonetheless helps Cyprus replace its largely Russian-made military arsenal and, thus, lessen its prior dependency on Moscow for much of its military hardware. <\/p>\n And finally, there\u2019s Germany\u2019s landmark order of the Arrow 3. The Arrow 3 presently covers the uppermost layer of Israel\u2019s air defense. It has been battle-proven against Houthi and Iranian ballistic missiles since late 2023. Germany envisions the system playing a central role in the 24-member European Sky Shield Initiative, proposed in response to Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n With hit-to-kill technology, the Arrow 3 is designed to intercept ballistic missiles above the Earth\u2019s atmosphere, where it could more safely destroy unconventional payloads like nuclear weapons. It has an impressive range of 1,500 miles and can reach an altitude of 62 miles. It will become the first-ever exoatmospheric defense system fielded by a European army. Germany sees it as providing a defensive umbrella to its neighbors.<\/p>\n