TEL AVIV, Israel - Exercise Juniper Cobra, a joint U.S.-Israel ballistic
missile defense exercise formally concluded March 15 after several weeks of
robust training between U.S. and Israel military personnel on shared
capabilities and interoperability via computer simulations and
live-scenarios.
Planning for the ninth biennial exercise began in late 2016. Activities and
preparations associated with the exercise began in late January, and
continued through March 21. The exercise involved more than 2,500 U.S.
personnel and approximately 2,000 Israeli personnel.
"It was an honor to lead this team of true professionals through completion
of U.S. European Command's top priority exercise for 2018," said U.S. Air
Force Third Air Force Commander Lt. Gen. Richard Clark, who also serves as
the commander for the deployable Joint Task Force-Israel.
"Juniper Cobra 2018 proved to be an incredibly challenging and realistic
scenario, requiring trust, communication and collaboration with our Israeli
partners," Clark said. "The relationships built over the last two weeks help
bolster our interoperability and pave the path for future engagements and
exercises."
Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and civilians took part in a wide array
of joint training opportunities in various locations throughout Israel,
ranging from mass casualty response to ballistic missile defense.
"This exercise gave us, as a Marine unit, an opportunity to integrate, train
and work bilaterally with the Israel Defense Force (IDF)," said U.S. Marine
Capt. Garrett Johnson, a company commander for Battalion Landing Team, 2nd
Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. "I think the
concepts that we were able to learn throughout this exercise are something
that we're going to carry forward and be able to apply in the future. It was
definitely something that benefited us and will make us stronger as we go to
the next training environment."
The exercise was able to achieve its goal of improving coordination between
the U.S. and Israel militaries by enabling participants to learn from each
other's knowledge and experience.
"The deep bond shared by Israel and the United States is based on shared
values and interests," said Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, Head of the Israel
Defense Forces Operations Directorate. "Our two democracies share core
values and complement each other in operational and military cooperation."
JC18 was cooperatively planned over the last year and a half and, though
driven by the overall situation in the Middle East, the exercise was not
related to any specific real-world events.
Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander, U.S. European Command, traveled to
Israel March 9-11 to meet with U.S. and Israeli leadership and troops
participating in the exercise, and was pleased with the coordination and
teamwork.
"The U.S. and Israel have a steadfast military to military relationship
built on trust developed over decades of cooperation," Scaparrotti said. "We
value the relationships we have with our IDF counterparts, and we will
continue to work alongside them to promote stability throughout the region."
The exercise also included visits from other U.S. and Israeli leaders, to
include Israeli Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman, U.S. Ambassador to
Israel David Friedman, Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, Israel Deputy Chief of the
General Staff, Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti, U.S. 6th Fleet Commander, Maj.
Gen. Amikam Norkin, Israel Air Force Commander, and Fleet Master Chief
Crispian Addington, U.S. European Command Senior Enlisted Leader.
"I would just like to say thank you the troops," Addington said during his
visit with exercise participants in Israel. "You are doing a phenomenal job
and you continued to build on the teamwork and partnership that was started
in 2001 with this exercise, taking it to new levels."
For more information about U.S. European Command visit
http://www.eucom.mil/.
For more information about Juniper Cobra 2018 visit
https://www.dvidshub.net/feature/JuniperCobra.
--30--
U.S. European Command is one of two U.S. forward-deployed geographic
combatant commands whose area of
focus spans across Europe, portions of Asia and the Middle East, the Arctic
and Atlantic oceans. The command is
comprised of more than 60,000 military and civilian personnel and is
responsible for U.S. defense operations,
relations with NATO and 51 countries. For more information about U.S.
European Command, visit
http://www.eucom.mil/.
