U.S., Israel hold joint Military exercise on response to nukes
Pastor Dale Morgan
U.S., Israel hold joint Military exercise on response to nukes*
By Yossi Melman*
Haaretz.
*Israel and the United States are conducting a joint military exercise
whose main goal, according to military officials in both countries, is
to hone the allies' abilities to fend off missiles equipped with
nuclear, biological or chemical warheads.
This year's Juniper Cobras drill, in contrast to those in recent years,
will not involve intercepting live missiles due to logistical
constraints associated with last summer's Lebanon war and U.S. deployments.
The Israel Air Force's Air Defense Artillery Brigade and the U.S. Army
Corps' 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade are taking part in the maneuvers.
Israel is testing the latest version of the Arrow and Patriot PAC-2
anti-missile systems.
The Americans are testing, for the first time, the capabilities of their
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Patriot PAC-3 systems.
The aim of the exercise is to measure the response time in the event of
a missile assault on Israel, the missile interception capabilities and
the communications, battle management and command-and-control systems of
both countries.
Major Peggy Kageleiry, U.S. Army public affairs officer for Juniper
Cobra 2007, told "Army Times" that despite the limitations of this
year's exercise, the computer simulation has proved valuable in
advancing the primary purpose of Juniper Cobra, which is to improve the
allies' ability to cooperate against common threats.
"It's all about interoperability - and the more we train together and
exchange ideas, the readier we'll be in any future scenario that may
require joint or coalition operations," Kageleiry said.
An Israeli defense official said the live-fire interoperability drills
will resume in the next Juniper Cobra, tentatively planned for spring 2009.
Juniper Cobra is the name given by the U.S. Army to the maneuvers, which
are part of an American emergency plan to defend Israel from missile
attacks. The exercises, which began in 2001, have in the past involved
the deployment of U.S. missiles on Israeli soil and trials of the
Patriot missile system.