Major U.S.-Israel missile defense exercise 'not in response to any world events'
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 E-Mail this story Free Headline Alerts
TEL AVIV — Israel and the United States are conducting their largest missile defense exercise that will feature a simulated attack by Iran.
Israel and the United States have launched the Juniper Cobra-10 missile defense exercise. Officials said the fifth edition of Juniper Cobra marked the largest exercise between the two countries.
"This exercise is not in response to any world events," an Israeli military statement said. " These exercises are planned in advance and are part of a routine training cycle designed to improve the interoperability of both air defense systems."
Military sources said the highlight of the two week exercise would be a simulation of an Iranian missile salvo toward Israel. They said the scenario would test the capability of a network of Israeli and U.S. assets to intercept Iranian incoming intermediate-range ballistic missiles as well as distinguish between genuine and bogus warheads.
"Another scenario would be of an Iranian unconventional missile attack and civil defense response," a military source said.
Juniper Cobra, scheduled to last until Nov. 5, was planned more than 18 months ago, the military said. The Oct. 20 military statement said 1,000 members of the U.S. military's European Command and 15 ships have arrived to participate.
"It is a welcome opportunity to learn from each other and to continue building partnership capacity between the two forces," the Israeli military said.
Officials said Eucom has transported such missile defense assets as PAC-3, Aegis and the Terminal High Altitude Defense system. They said these assets would be interoperable with Israel's fleet of enhanced PAC-2 and Arrow missile defense batteries.
Juniper also plans to be the first Israeli exercise to include a U.S.-origin X-band early-warning radar, AN/TPY-2. In late 2008, Eucom transferred the phased-array radar, produced by Raytheon, to an Israel Air Force base.
The statement said about 1,000 Israeli soldiers were participating in Juniper. The Israeli military said roads in the Jewish state might be closed during the exercise and that U.S. soldiers would be "temporarily deployed to a number of locations in Israel in the vicinity of civilian areas."
"Troop movements and other activities may be observed and a number of roads may be closed for short periods of time," the statement said. "The exercise will have minimal environmental impact, and participants will follow protections and practices that are in place to maintain a low impact."