Germany releases funds for Israel's Arrow-3 missiles in planned 4 billion euro deal

German lawmakers released advance payments of up to 560 million euros on Wednesday ahead of a planned purchase of the Israel-built Arrow-3 missile defence system for almost 4 billion euros ($4.30 billion) in total, a member of the budget committee told Reuters. It is the top layer of Israel's missile defence array, which extends from Iron Dome that intercepts short-range rockets to Arrow-3's long-range missiles that destroy any non-conventional warheads at a safe altitude. Berlin aims to strike a government-to-government deal with Israel on the purchase of the Arrow-3 system at the end of the year, according to procurement documents by the finance ministry that were prepared for parliament.