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US, Israel Satisfied with Missile Defense Exercise

CBN

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JERUSALEM, Israel – The bumpy relations between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama have not undermined the close cooperation between the American and Israeli militaries.

That cooperation was evident in last month's five-day military exercise completed on June 22. The drill tested real-time communication and integration of missile defense systems in the event of simultaneous large-scale missile attacks on Israel by Iran and its Lebanese-based proxy, Hezbollah.

Israel's Defense Ministry praised the exercise as "another milestone in the missile defense program."

Elisra, a subsidiary of Elbit systems, coordinated the drill at several IDF command and control centers around the country.

The goal was to test Israel's multi-layered anti-missile defense systems, which includes the Arrow 2, Arrow 3 and David's Sling, as well as the Iron Dome, which was not included in this exercise.

The U.S. military tested its Aegis Ships, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Patriot missile defense systems at development centers around the country.

A key element of the exercise tested the real-time ability to connect Israel's missile defense systems to U.S. radar to help identify, track and neutralize the missiles.

"We tested the systems' ability to work in tandem until the point of interception," an IDF officer told YNet. "In fact, we had one Israeli eye and one American eye on all the targets at the same time so we could see and operate better."

In February, Israeli and U.S. militaries carried out another successful joint missile defense operations exercise.

 

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