U.S., IDF hold joint exercise on response to nuclear attack By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent

Israel and the United States are conducting a joint military exercise whose main goal, according to military officials in both countries, is to hone the allies' abilities to fend off missiles equipped with nuclear, biological or chemical warheads.
This year's Juniper Cobras drill, in contrast to those in recent years, will not involve intercepting live missiles due to logistical constraints associated with last summer's Lebanon war and U.S. deployments.
The Israel Air Force's Air Defense Artillery Brigade and the U.S. Army Corps' 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade are taking part in the maneuvers. Advertisement
Israel is testing the latest version of the Arrow and Patriot PAC-2 anti-missile systems.
The Americans are testing, for the first time, the capabilities of their Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Patriot PAC-3 systems.
The aim of the exercise is to measure the response time in the event of a missile assault on Israel, the missile interception capabilities and the communications, battle management and command-and-control systems of both countries.
Major Peggy Kageleiry, U.S. Army public affairs officer for Juniper Cobra 2007, told "Army Times" that despite the limitations of this year's exercise, the computer simulation has proved valuable in advancing the primary purpose of Juniper Cobra, which is to improve the allies' ability to cooperate against common threats.
"It's all about interoperability - and the more we train together and exchange ideas, the readier we'll be in any future scenario that may require joint or coalition operations," Kageleiry said.
An Israeli defense official said the live-fire interoperability drills will resume in the next Juniper Cobra, tentatively planned for spring 2009.
Juniper Cobra is the name given by the U.S. Army to the maneuvers, which are part of an American emergency plan to defend Israel from missile attacks. The exercises, which began in 2001, have in the past involved the deployment of U.S. missiles on Israeli soil and trials of the Patriot missile system