Defense and industry leaders here anxiously are awaiting the results of a study pitting Israel's favored Arrow-3 interceptor against a land-based version of the Pentagon's Standard Missile-3 (SM-3). If the report endorses the SM-3 as the interceptor of choice for Israel's Upper Tier missile defense network, it could lead to the first international purchase of the land-based version of the mid-course defender developed for the U.S. Navy by Raytheon and the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency. But in Israel, the stakes appear to be much higher. In interviews here, defense and industry leaders said rejection of the Arrow-3 would jeopardize the future of a critical segment of Israel's defense industrial base and harm the nation's operational and technological ability to adapt to changing threats.
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