The Israel Defense Forces and the U.S. Armed Forces completed the 2019 Juniper Falcon military exercise on Thursday.
“The exercise reflects the depth of the relations between the two countries and the sharing of professional knowledge between the various units and corps,” said IDF Brigadier General Ran Kochav.
Juniper Falcon is intended to increase coordination and familiarity between the two forces, as well as tighten their ability to comply with orders and procedures during emergencies.
“Important lessons were learned” from the drill, said Kochav, who added that both forces “significantly improved cooperation and preparedness for emergencies.”
The drill “presented a great opportunity for U.S. forces to work once again in close proximity with our Israeli partners, to improve our integrated missile defense capability,” added U.S. Air Force JAFI Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian,
This year, the exercise focused specifically on the ability to deploy and integrate the two forces quickly, particularly to provide support for ballistic missile defense and disaster response.