Direct proof of use
Israel's Ministry of Defense reported after Operation Rising Lion that enhanced Arrow-system versions had been integrated in the months before the operation, including an upgrade one week before the fighting, and that 86 percent of ballistic missiles launched from Iran toward Israeli territory were intercepted. The statement placed Arrow within the Israel Missile Defense Organization's air-defense effort during the operation rather than as a general inventory note.
Open-source missile-defense analysis added weapon-specific detail. FPRI cited video evidence from Jordan that showed Arrow-3 interceptor launches and lower levels of Arrow-2 use during the June 2025 war, while JINSA's July 2025 cost assessment identified 9 Arrow-2 and 34 Arrow-3 interceptor launches in the same video sample and extrapolated possible wider use with explicit uncertainty.
Sources: Israel MOD Operation Rising Lion Systems Evaluation, FPRI Shallow Ramparts, JINSA Interceptor Cost Estimates
Timeline
The conflict began on June 13, 2025, when Israel opened a major military operation against Iran and Iran retaliated with waves of ballistic missiles against Israel. Arrow's documented role belongs to the defensive side of that exchange: intercepting or attempting to intercept ballistic missiles aimed at Israeli territory.
During the June 13-24 fighting, Israeli and U.S. missile-defense systems faced repeated Iranian ballistic-missile salvos. FPRI described at least seven missile-defense batteries across Israel visible in video evidence and identified large numbers of Arrow-3 and THAAD launches, with smaller Arrow-2 use. JINSA estimated from the same video set that Arrow interceptors made up just over half of the observed U.S.-Israeli interceptor launches defending Israel.
On July 1, 2025, the Israel Ministry of Defense published its post-operation assessment, crediting the multi-layered air and missile defense architecture with preventing major damage and listing enhanced Arrow-system versions among the Israel Missile Defense Organization measures used during Operation Rising Lion.
Sources: CRS Israel-Iran Conflict and Ceasefire, FPRI Shallow Ramparts, JINSA Interceptor Cost Estimates, Israel MOD Operation Rising Lion Systems Evaluation
Operational role
Arrow served as Israel's upper-tier ballistic-missile defense layer in the conflict, complementing other Israeli and U.S. systems rather than operating alone. The publicly supported use case is ballistic-missile interception and force protection against Iranian missiles launched toward Israeli territory.
The available public record separates official outcome claims from open-source expenditure estimates. The Israel MOD gave the headline interception-rate claim and identified enhanced Arrow versions in the missile-defense effort, while FPRI and JINSA used video analysis to attribute observed launches to Arrow-2, Arrow-3, and THAAD. JINSA's higher total estimates for Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 use are extrapolations from a video sample, so they are best read as estimates rather than confirmed Israeli firing totals.
Sources: Israel MOD Operation Rising Lion Systems Evaluation, FPRI Shallow Ramparts, JINSA Interceptor Cost Estimates
