A massive explosion rocked a testing ground belonging to the state-owned Tomer defense company near Beit Shemesh late Saturday night, lighting up the sky with a large fireball and mushroom cloud that caused widespread panic among residents.
Tomer, which develops rocket engines and propulsion systems for Israel’s advanced missiles, including the Arrow-2 and Arrow-3 ballistic missile interceptors, stated that the blast was a “pre-planned experiment that was carried out according to plan.” The company added that authorities had been notified in advance and that no injuries or external damage were reported.
Analyst Babak Taghvaee and several social media accounts claimed the explosion may have destroyed a large stockpile of surface-to-air missiles or Arrow-3 interceptors stored at or near the facility. Taghvaee wrote that the storage area is located next to where dozens of Arrow-3 interceptors for one of the IDF’s two operational batteries are believed to be kept.
However, no official confirmation of any damage to Arrow-3 missiles or operational stockpiles has been issued by the IDF, Tomer, or Israeli authorities. Some Hebrew media outlets and open-source analysts have noted the facility’s proximity to sensitive sites and questioned the scale of the blast, but these remain unverified theories.
