ANKARA Ñ The Arrow missile interceptor has been deployed in the Israeli-Turkish-U.S. air exercise.

Military sources said the Arrow was launched during the current Anatolian Eagle drill, scheduled to end on June 29. The exercise was the first by the air forces of all three countries and has been held in the desert in central Turkey.

The scenarios being carried out during the exercise includes missile attacks from Turkey's neighbors such as Iran, Iraq and Syria. The Arrow was used in the exercise to intercept missiles while Israeli, Turkish and U.S. warplanes were sent to destroy enemy batteries.

"You can say that this is turning out to be beyond our expectations," a Turkish defense official said.

Israel, Turkey and the United States have agreed on trilateral cooperation in missile defense. Officials said the cooperation would begin with the development of early-warning systems for Turkey and later graduate to active missile defense.

Military sources said Israel and Turkey are discussing the launch of missile defense cooperation. They said this includes Israeli help for the establishment of a Turkish network of radars and Arrow inteceptors.

The issue is expected to be discussed when Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer arrives in Ankara on July 9. The visit is being termed as extremely important amid the military cooperation between Ankara and Jerusalem.

The current exercise contains more than 150 warplanes. Turkey has contributed more than 90 aircraft Ñ mostly F-16s Ñ to the exercise.

Israel was said to have briefly used the F-15 in the exercise. But the exercise is based on F-16 interoperability by all three air forces.

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