Israel, US Stage 4-Day Military Training Exercise

[Purveyor]

Associated Press
Published: 03.20.08, 14:57 / Israel News

The Israeli military said Thursday that around 200 US and Israeli officers had staged a computer-based battle simulation designed to improve coordination between the two countries' armed forces.

The four-day exercise, codenamed ''Juniper Falcon'' was part of a standing agreement between the two strategic allies to hold regular joint training to boost ''interoperability, understanding and cooperation'' a military statement released on Thursday said.

The statement stressed that the exercise, which ended on Wednesday, had been planned a year in advance and was not related to actual events.

Defense officials said that in addition the Israeli military's southern command held a separate simulation based on a scenario of an escalated conflict in Gaza.

---EOE---

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3521603,00.html

[Newsjock]

1. If it "had been planned a year in advance" ...

... why is this the first we're hearing of it?

[Squatch]

3. Because maybe you weren't paying attention?

:shrug:

Juniper Falcon

Juniper Falcon is the name for an ongoing series of military exercises conducted by the United States Air Forces in Europe and Israel.

The first Juniper Falcon Planning Conference was held at Giebelstadt, Germany in August 2000.

[MaryCeleste]

4. Because they don't issue press releases about these sorts of things

They are generally mapped out a year or two in advance, and detailed as they get closer.

[Squatch]

5. Actually, these recurring exercises are frequently included in DoD press releases

Particularly the relevant planning/execution milestones that have been achieved.

[MaryCeleste]

6. You are right about the Juniper Falcon series

but generically, the US military does not publish in advance exercise plans and schedules since it involves deployment information

[Squatch]

7. Once again, I have to disagree with you on this (respectfully, of course)

having been a planner & participant on numerous US, Joint, Coalition, and multi-national exercises, the deploying units involved are subjected to a virtual PR blitz months before the exercise kicks off. This is especially true with those exercises that are recurrent (Cobra Gold, Juniper Falcon, etc).

[Squatch]

8. Another note:

Exercise schedules are released well in advance and to a wide audience, as many times they involve the coordination of civil/military airspace (including temporarily re-routing commercial air routes), alerting civilians to the reasons behind any loud explosions they may hear, etc.

[MaryCeleste]

9. Its more a semantics here...

A prior post inferred that things were kept under wraps, and from a civilian perspective they seem to be. You don't see it in the WP or LAT. However there is a massive amount of coordination up front as you point out. Normally I saw things laid out 2-3 years in advance, and we would start workups for it 12 months or so out, depending on the size.

[bushmeister0]

2. This is interesting: Events that are expected to occur in the near future

Haaretz reports:

"At the completion of the exercise, both the Israeli and the U.S. sides announced that extreme scenarios were tested that challenged the participating armies to assist each other.

The scenarios were set in the present and based on events of the past several years or events that are expected to occur in the near future.

The creators of the exercise did not use the names of actual Arab states or existing terror organizations.

The Israeli team included representatives from the planning, operations, intelligence and logistics branches, as well as officers from the navy and the air force.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/966269.html

"Events that are expected to occur in the near future." Hmmm. . . what could that mean, I wonder?