Upcoming US-Israel Military Exercise

Next week, Israel and the US are scheduled to begin a major biannual military exercise called ‘Juniper Cobra’.  Taking place in Southern Israel, it is primarily focused on aerial defense testing.  As Yaakov Katz in the Jerusalem Post reports:

This year's drill is being described as the largest joint exercise ever held by the countries. During it they will jointly test four ballistic missile defense systems - the Israeli Arrow 2, the ship-based Aegis, the high-altitude THAAD and the Patriot (PAC) 3 systems. This is the first time that all of these systems are deployed here.

According to UPI, the overall objective is “to integrate missile and air defense systems.” This exercise comes a week after Iran conducted extensive missile tests and is under increasing pressure from the US and international community over its nuclear program.