America and Israel are about to embark on a large joint military exercise, one that is being called unprecedented in size. As such, vessels have begun arriving in Israel ahead of next month’s joint operation which involves America’s Europe Command.
This exercise, which is being called Juniper Cobra, involves advanced missile defense systems, including the Arrow, developed by Israel with American cooperation, as well as America’s THAAD (Thermal High Altitude Area Defense), PAC3 (Patriot Advanced Capability) and Aegis systems. This was confirmed in Rosh Hashanah interviews with IAF commander, Major-General Ido Nehushtan.
The early arrival will permit the troops involved to begin briefing and learning the necessary details of the major exercise, which will bring Israeli American military cooperation to a new level, with America expected to deploy Aegis ships, launching the anti-ballistic missile capabilities.
There is also talk that some of the systems would remain in Israel to give Israel an added edge against the mounting Iranian threat.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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6 Responses
WOW
THAAD = Terminal (not thermal) High Altitude Area Defense
10 succesful tests out of the last 13 trials.
Thabo, those were all set-ups for sure.
Nobody has ever been able to shoot an enemy missile out of the sky. I was in Israel when Patriots were used and all they did was make a nice fireworks display when they blew up all by themselves. Lots of confetti and no action.
It’s probably impossible to effectively target incoming missiles. All these ‘systems’ are toldos of Reagan’s Star Wars, which never worked a pip but terrified the enemy and made America ever so proud.
Mr. Avreich Man: You are mistaken. thabo is correct. Both THAAD and Arrow have scored many successful shoot downs of “enemy” missiles out of the sky.
The Patriots used in Desert Storm were not designed for the targets they were sent to defend against, so the record there is not surprising.
THAAD, Arrow, and the CURRENT Patriot systems (Block 2C and Block 3) are quite capable against these threats, especially when used in a “layered” defense (THAAD, followed by Arrow, followed by Patriot) – which is precisely what is being tested in this exercise.
(I’ve worked on ballistic missile defense for over ten years, so I know a little bit about these systems.)
Mr. Avreich man
Believe me, these things work. A year or so ago the US shot down a satalite with a SM-3, that was a kinetic kill, as are the new THAAD and Arrow missile systems. they are designed to hit an incomming missile head-on and destroy it.
the patiots of old were designed to explode in the region of the incomming target and deflect it. they were not perfect, but they were all that was available during the gulf war, and so the US provided them to Israel.
Following their failure to do the job, the Arrow system was developed.
Hopefully הקב”ה will keep Iran’s missiles far away from us and we will never have to use our missile defenses, but in the event that we are fired on I am sure that with the help of ה’ the Arrow etc. will function just as it is designed to.
thabo: Arrow is not hit-to-kill; it has a warhead. And Arrow was not in response to Patriot’s failure; they have different engagement envelops.
I evaluated the initial Arrow proposal in 1986; at that time Patriot was just beginning to be considered for the AMB role. It was originally designed for the air defense role.