The United States and Israel will hold large-scale joint military exercises in Israel on Monday to show hostile powers such as Iran that Washington cannot be distracted by the war in Ukraine or the threat of China to mobilize large-scale military forces. has begun, a senior defense official said.
Juniper Oak 23 was “the most significant U.S.-Israeli exercise to date,” citing a large number of aircraft, extensive coordination with the Israel Defense Forces, and a complex live-fire component.
About 6,400 U.S. troops will join 1,100 Israeli troops for exercises with a total of 142 aircraft. Of these, 100 belong to the U.S. military, including four B‑52 bombers, four F‑35 fighters, 45 F/A‑18 Hornet fighters and two MQ‑9 Reaper drones.
Six US ships, including a carrier strike group, and six Israeli ships will also participate.
“Juniper Oak is a multidisciplinary joint exercise that will increase interoperability with our partners in land, air, sea, space and cyberspace, improve our contingency capabilities, and define our commitment to the Middle East.” .
Citing the focus on China and the nearly 100,000 troops in Europe supporting NATO and Ukraine, a senior Defense Department official told NBC News: “This exercise shows that we are walking. It means you can chew gum at the same time.”
“We have the capacity to move to other high-priority areas of responsibility to conduct an exercise of this magnitude.”
The official said the exercise was not aimed at a specific country, but that hostile forces in the region, such as Iran, would be warned.
“The scale of the exercise is relevant for any scenario and Iran can draw certain conclusions from it,” said the official.
“This is primarily to test whether we can do something of this scale with Israel against a range of threats. , I wouldn’t be surprised if they figured out what the two of us are capable of.”
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