The close collaboration that developed between U.S. Army crews and Israel Defense Force units operating Patriot anti-missile batteries in Israel during the Persian Gulf war will continue despite the Americans’ departure Monday.
They left behind two Patriot batteries, which had been operated principally by Israelis from the outset, as well as an abundance of good will and mutual respect.
Col. David Heebner, commander of the U.S. Patriot crews, praised the IDF for its “superb system, which enabled us to learn lessons very quickly and make changes” under combat conditions.
“We made changes in two weeks that would have taken two years to make under normal conditions,” he said at a farewell reception hosted by Mayor Arye Gurel of Haifa.
“What was learned here was beneficial throughout the forces using the Patriot system,” the colonel added.
The Patriots proved effective in intercepting and destroying Iraqi Scud missiles fired at Israel during the war.
The first Patriots were rushed here from U.S. bases in Germany after the initial Scud attack on Jan. 18. IDF soldiers had only just completed training in the United States to operate the Patriots, which Israel planned to buy long before the Gulf war started.
They went through their post-graduate course under fire, said the Israeli Patriot battery commander, who for security reasons was identified only as Col. Moshe.
Before the Americans left, the U.S. and Israeli teams agreed to hold cooperative meetings in the future. The idea is to exchange information gleaned from the operation of Patriot batteries in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel.
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