Preparing for the Next War: US, IDF Forces Launch Juniper Cobra

• Preparing for the Next War: US, IDF Forces Launch Juniper Cobra
  by Yoni Kempinski, https://www.israelnationalnews.com/, 8 March 2018
  Arutz Sheva meets with IDF, US officers as two countries kick-off year’s largest joint training exercise in Israel.
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  American and Israeli forces launched operation “Juniper Cobra” this week, a two-week joint defense training exercise bringing together more than 4,500 service members from the IDF and the US military’s European Command (USEUCOM). Since 2001, Israeli and US security forces have conducted a total of eight Juniper Cobra joint combat exercises, including the most recent exercise in February 2016.
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  This year, the US military has deployed over 2,500 service members, including 1,400 Marines and 1,100 naval personnel. In addition, 2,000 IDF soldiers are slated to take part in the exercise, making Juniper Cobra 2018 the largest joint combat exercise between Israel and the US this year.
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  Two US Navy vessels have taken up positions off the coast of Israel and will be taking part in the exercise. On Tuesday, the USS Iwo Jima arrived off of Israel’s coast. On Thursady, the USS Mount Whitney docked at a Haifa port.
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  The ninth Juniper Cobra exercise will hone the ability of US and Israeli forces to coordinate their responses to complex threats, especially missile attacks from regional foes like Iran and Hezbollah. The exercise simulates scenarios in which US forces would deploy to Israel in order to aid the Israeli air force.
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  The drill, Israel Air Force Captain Ron Shavit told Arutz Sheva, focuses on a “scenario in which missiles are launched at Israel. One of the [goals] of the drill is to cooperate together and improve our abilities and work together.”
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