The air defense crews of the 69th Air
Defense Artillery Brigade's 5th Battalion have been
training directly with IDF's 137th Theater Missile Defense Battalion in preparation
for a joint military exercise in 2007. The exercise,
Juniper Cobra, is designed to test and improve the effectiveness
of both nations' air defense artillery systems. Intense
planning and preparation is required to complete the
operation every year.
The training is taking place in Ansbach, Germany at
the Patriot Conduct of Fire Trainer. Both Israelis and
Americans said they enjoyed the experience in working
together.
“We are practicing techniques
and procedures with our Israeli counterparts to work
out interoperability issues with the Patriot system
and the (Israeli)
Arrow system, and trying to resolve those issues
prior to JC07(Juniper Cobra 2007),” said Chief
Warrant Officer 3 Lloyd Chaffee.
Clayton Skubis, a tactical control
assistant said, “I learned a lot in Israel.
It was nice to be there and to be with the Israelis.”
The Patriot system was originally designed
by the United States to thwart illegal aircraft from the Soviet
Union during the Cold War, but was later developed
against ballistic missle strikes in the first Gulf
War. After Iraq fired several scud missles into Israel, the Israeli Army began developing their
own version of the Patriot System.