Israeliand visiting U.S. forces carried out air-defense exercise aimed at testing newways of intercepting missiles capable of carrying nuclear, chemical andbiological warheads, American and Israeli military officials said.
The exercise, which began on Sunday and ended on Tuesday, took place in thesouthern
This is the fourth time the two allies have conducted the joint exercise,dubbed "Juniper Cobra," which is held every two years.
Taking part in the exercise were the U.S. Army's 69th Air Defense ArtilleryBrigade and the Israeli Air Force's Air Defense Artillery Brigade,
"It is a computer simulation exercise designed to test the interoperability ofthe air defense system," said Stewart Tuttle, the U.S. Embassy spokesmanin Tel Aviv, who declined to provide details. "The air defense can protectyou against whatever happens to be on the warhead."
Military officials said the tests involved Israeli's Arrow anti-ballisticmissile and its U.S.-made Patriot PAC-2.
According to Haaretz, this year's exercise marks the first timethat
According to Haaretz, no missiles were fired during the exercisebecause "of constraints associated with last summer's war in
The newspaper quoted an Israeli defense official as saying live-fireinteroperability exercises would resume in Juniper Cobra in 2009.
The
Both
However, American and Israeli officials said the timing of the exercise wasroutine and unrelated to their fears over
They also said the operation was carried out on a reduced scale, with fewertroops and advanced computer simulations -- rather than live-fire drills -- ofanti-missile systems.
"Given the regional situation, especially with
The Israeli army refused to discuss Juniper Cobra in details, saying in astatement that it is "part of a routine training cycle designed tovalidate interoperability of air defense systems."
The Iranian nuclear standoff has stirred speculation that
And the
Some analysts believe that the
Correspondents say the fact that there are now two
Military experts and Middle East analyst have warned of the catastrophicconsequences for any military action against
A recent report by a coalition of British charities, faith groups and unionswarned that any attack against
Source: Agencies
Güncelleme Tarihi: 20 Eylül 2018, 18:16