NEW YORK (JTA) — The United States and Israel will hold a joint military exercise to test three missile defense systems, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The exercise, called Juniper Cobra, will be held in Israel later this year and will test the newly developed Arrow 2, as well as America’s THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and the ship-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System.
The United States and Israel regularly conduct joint military excercises, but Juniper Cobra will be the most complex and extensive to date, the Post reported.
According to Israeli defense officials, the purpose of the exercise is to create the infrastructure for joint Israeli-American missile defense systems in the event they are needed as a result of conflict with Iran. American missile defense systems were deployed in Israel in 1991 ahead of the Gulf War with Iraq.
