Boeing and Lockheed Martin are competing to get involved in the Israeli arrow missile defense project.

Arrow prime contractor Israel Aircraft Industries has been seeking a U.S. partner to increase its production capacity, as it can't currently build missiles fast enough to satisfy the Israeli government.

A winner could be disclosed next month, according to one U.S. industry official. Although Lockheed Martin and Boeing have their own missile defense programs, they are apparently willing to join a potential competitor because of Arrow's advanced stage. The initial system has been fielded and will have the market to itself for some time.

A Lockheed Martin official noted that to some extent Arrow and other missile defense programs are actually complementary, rather than in competition. The PAC-3 air defense system, for example, is shorter-range than Arrow. Furthermore, once the company's Theater High Altitude Area Defense system is developed, it may be of interest to Israel because it has a greater range than Arrow.

THAAD also is a hit-to-kill system, which means it should be able to destroy weapons of mass destruction carried on attacking ballistic missiles better than the blast/fragmentation Arrow system.

By Robert Wall