Israel successfully carried out a test launch of its Arrow missile interceptor on Sunday, sending a salvo streaking across the sea as it stepped up preparations for possible attack by Iraq in event of a U.S.-led war in the Gulf. Witnesses near a seaside military base said that they saw an Arrow soar into the sky at dusk over the Mediterranean in a silent, blazing white streak.

Defense Ministry officials said the Arrow was loaded with a warhead and followed by three others without warheads.

It was the first test of a salvo of the Arrows, which Israel conceived as its first custom-designed anti-ballistic missile.

A Defense Ministry spokeswoman said the loaded missile hit a simulated target and pronounced the test a success.
It was the 10th test of the 2.2 billion dlrs system.

The targets were computer simulated Scud ballistic missiles, which the Arrow has been designed to intercept at altitudes of more than 30 miles.

Iraq fired 39 Scuds with conventional warheads at Israel in the 1991 Gulf War , causing one death and extensive damage in residential neighborhoods.

U.S.-made Patriot missiles supplied to Israel were largely ineffective in intercepting them but have since been upgraded.

Israel fears that this time, Iraq could arm the Scuds with chemical or biological agents, although most strategic experts believe Iraq retains little of the missile firepower it had 12 years ago.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Israeli patriot missile battery is stationed near the central Israeli town of Gedera, December 12, 2002. Israelis are increasingly jittery over the prospects of Iraqi missile strikes, should the United States attack Iraq. Israeli media said a new shipment of U.S.-made Patriot anti-missile missiles arrived in the port of Haifa on Wednesday. REUTERS/Tsafrir Abay