U.S., Israel Military Exercises to Help Shape Missile Shield
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A U.S. military officer said Tuesday that a major missile defense exercise staged by American and Israeli forces will help the development of a planned NATO missile shield for Europe.
Some 2,000 U.S. and Israeli personnel are holding maneuvers this week and next to test technology that would protect Israel from a missile attack, setting up radar arrays along the coast and deploying naval vessels offshore. The allies plan to conduct a live-fire test during the exercise.
U.S. Army Col. Tony English told reporters visiting a coastal battery on the edge of Tel Aviv on Tuesday that it was the first major exercise integrating THAAD and Patriot ground-to-air missiles and the ship-launched Aegis system.
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"This is the most complete air missile defense system we've ever done anywhere in the world," he said.
President Barack Obama announced last month that he was scrapping a Bush-era plan which would have put missile interceptors in Poland and the Czech Republic, a program deeply opposed by nearby Russia.
In its place he proposed a reduced missile system linked to NATO. The Poles and the Czechs have said they will take part.
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NATO has praised the proposal as offering a defense from potential Iranian missile threats.
The plan calls for U.S. Navy ships equipped with anti-missile weapons to form a front line of defense in the eastern Mediterranean. Those would be combined with land-based anti-missile systems to be placed in Europe.
In Tel Aviv, English said the U.S.-Israeli exercise, codenamed Juniper Cobra 10, would benefit a future European deployment.
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"We're going to learn a lot of lessons here that will definitely apply to that later system," he said.