Reuters
October 22, 2009
"A major air defense exercise launched with Israel this week will help the United States craft its European missile shield, a U.S. commander said...Featuring in the three weeks of maneuvers is Aegis, a U.S. Navy anti-missile system that the administration of President Barack Obama plans to deploy in the eastern Mediterranean as the first part of a missile shield for Europe announced last month."
Associated Press
October 27, 2009
"A U.S. military officer said Tuesday that a major missile defense exercise staged by American and Israeli forces will help the development of a planned NATO missile shield for Europe."
The officer in question explicitly stated, "We're going to learn a lot of lessons here that will definitely apply to that later system."
United Press International
October 30, 2009
"On a wider perspective, what the Americans learn from these complex exercises will help shape a NATO defense shield for Europe."
The Jerusalem Post added:
"Results of the Juniper Cobra missile defense exercise staged by Israeli and American forces"will be used by the US Defense Department to help formulate a new NATO missile shield for Europe, senior defense officials said"The drill was also relevant for a potential European missile shield, since the Americans would need to test their systems in different weather conditions.
"[A] new plan under consideration will include the deployment of US navy ships equipped with Aegis missile defense systems to form a front line in the Mediterranean Sea alongside a few land-based missile systems in Europe.
"The Americans are currently considering which land-based system to use. NATO is pushing for the SM-3, the missile that is the backbone of the Aegis ship-based system, but the US military will likely review other systems as well, including Israel's Arrow and Arrow 3, development of which began recently and which is being funded by the [Obama] administration."
Juniper Cobra 10 will be superseded by this October's Austere Challenge 12 joint exercise in October which will combine the Israeli four-tiered Iron Dome, David's Sling, Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 system with the U.S.'s Patriot Advanced Capability-3, Standard Missile-3 and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense counterparts.
The increasingly advanced, stratified, integrated global interceptor missile grid being developed by the U.S. and its NATO allies and partners is in no manner intended to be defensive in nature. Rather it is designed to neutralize the deterrence capabilities of other nations, their ability to fire missiles in retaliation for first-strike attacks, thereby heightening the threat of such attacks being launched.
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