Source: Global ResearchYaakov Katz
US Navy commander in Israel to finalize missile drill
Israel, US to hold largest ever missile defense exercise this spring;
thousands of US soldiers will be deployed in Israel. Talkbacks (100)
Israel is moving forward with plans to hold the largest-ever missile
defense exercise in its history this spring amid Iranian efforts to
obtain nuclear weapons.
Last week, Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US’s Third Air
Force based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the
upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand
American soldiers in Israel.
The drill, which is unprecedented in its size, will include the
establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at
EUCOM headquarters in Germany – with the ultimate goal of establishing
joint task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle
East.
The US will also bring its THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area
Defense) and shipbased Aegis ballistic missile defense systems to Israel
to simulate the interception of missile salvos against Israel.
The American systems will work in conjunction with Israel’s missile defense systems – the Arrow, Patriot and Iron Dome.
Gorenc came to Israel for talks with Brig.-Gen. Doron Gavish, commander of the Air Force’s Air Defense Division.
He toured one of the Iron Dome batteries in the South and the Israel
Test Bed lab in Holon where the IAF holds its interception simulation
exercises.
The IAF is planning to deploy a fourth battery of the Iron Dome
counter-rocket system in the coming months and is mulling the
possibility of stationing it in Haifa to protect oil refineries located
there.
The Defense Ministry has allocated a budget to manufacture an
additional three Iron Dome batteries by the end of 2012. IAF operational
requirements call for the deployment of about a dozen batteries along
Israel’s northern and southern borders.
The IAF is also moving forward with plans to deploy Rafael’s David’s
Sling missile defense system, which is designed to defend against
medium-range rockets and cruise missiles. Rafael recently completed a
series of successful navigation and flight tests of the David’s Sling’s
interceptor and plans to hold the first interception test by mid-2012.
