Israel and the United States signed a deal on Sunday to upgrade the Jewish state's Arrow anti- missile system, a cooperation expected to expand the interceptor's defense range, Xinhua reported.
The two sides will work together to make the Arrow III system capable of tracking and shooting down ballistic missiles at a higher altitude, local news service Ynet quoted the Defense Ministry as saying.
The upgraded Arrow system will be able to intercept missiles while they are still "outside the atmosphere," the ministry said.
The Arrow missile defense system is co-funded by Israel and the United States and designed to, according to Israel's description, shield the Jewish state from possible long-range missile attacks by Iran and Syria.
The system, together with the anti-rockets system Iron Dome and David's Sling system against medium-range missiles, are major components of the multi-layer air defense system Israel is trying to build.
Israel announced last week that it has finished the final tests for the Iron Dome system which is about to be deployed in November. U.S. President Barack Obama in May asked Congress to provide 205 million dollars to Israel for developing the rockets interceptor.