HIGHLIGHTS: Israel's Advanced Missile Technology on Display Just Days After Iran Test-Fired Long Range Missile|| Ofek-5 To Concentrate High-Resolution Cameras on Iran, Iraq and Syria. ||In a Joint Project With U.S., Israel Developed Arrow, an Anti-Missile System||STORY: Israel launched a spy satellite into space on Tuesday, putting its advanced missile technology on display at a time of rising Mideast tensions - just days after Iran confirmed it test-fired its own long-range missile. (Read photo caption)

An Israeli-made Shavit missile blasted off from the Palmahim air force base on Israel's coast south of Tel Aviv, carrying the Ofek-5 spy satellite aloft. With a white plume of smoke, the missile shot out over the sea, carrying the sophisticated satellite in the opposite direction of the earth's rotation, a safety measure to keep it away from land.

The Ofek-5 - which means horizon in Hebrew - fills a yearlong gap in Israeli intelligence gathering caused by the failed launch of the Ofek-4 in 1998. The military managed to extend the life of the Ofek-3, launched in 1995, from the planned three years to six, but it burned up in the atmosphere about a year ago. The military would not say exactly when.

Since then, the military has been purchasing services from a commercial satellite, the Eros.

Ofek-5 gives Israel an extended capacity to monitor military developments in the region and also demonstrates its advanced missile ability, experts said. Israel TV said it would concentrate its high-resolution cameras on Iran, Iraq and Syria.

The Shavit missile used to launch the satellite is related to the long-range Jericho ground-to-ground missile. Foreign experts have been quoted as saying the Jericho missile can carry nuclear warheads, but Israeli officials have never commented on that.

All the components of the satellite were made in Israel, according to officials, including a high-resolution camera for ground pictures.

Along with its spy satellite and Jericho missiles, Israel has also developed, in a joint project with the United States, an anti-missile system called Arrow. The first batteries of Arrow missiles have been deployed at the same base where the Ofek-5 was launched.

The Arrow system is designed to intercept incoming ballistic missiles in the stratosphere, far from their intended targets.

During the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel, all with conventional warheads. The United States rushed in several batteries of Patriot missiles, originally designed as anti-aircraft weapons, but upgraded to target incoming missiles. However, the Patriot system had limited success in bringing down incoming Scuds.

PHOT0 CAPTION

The Ofek-5 spy satellite is launched at a coastal air force base south of Tel Aviv, Tuesday, May 28, 2002. Israel launched a sophisticated spy satellite Tuesday in an attempt to extend its ability to monitor military developments in the region and in a clear demonstration of its advanced missile capabilities. (AP Photo/Eric Sultan)