Global Security Newswire

An Israeli Arrow missile interceptor lifts off in a 2003 trial. Israel and the United States last week rescheduled a previously postponed joint missile defense drill for October (AP Photo/Eitan Hess-Ashkenazi).

The United States and Israel on Thursday rescheduled a major cooperative missile defense exercise for October after delaying the drill earlier this month, Arutz Sheva reported (see GSN, Jan. 17).

"Technical" issues forced a delay in plans to hold the Austere Challenge 12 exercise, slated to be the largest antimissile drill conducted to date by the two countries. Government defense personnel on Thursday settled on conducting the maneuvers in October after conferring on the matter for an extended period, the newspaper Maariv reported.

The United States assented to Israel's request to push back the drill, according to Maariv. Financial factors did not force the delay, the report quoted informed government insiders as saying. The postponement occurred amid heighten tensions with Iran, where leaders have threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to an oil embargo targeting the nation's contested nuclear activities.

“At this time of year we should not attract attention and prepare for complex challenges,” the sources added.

Higher-level U.S. military officials are expected to travel to Israel this week in preparation for the drill, Maariv reported. Roughly 3,000 U.S. troops would visit the country to participate in the exercise, and 2,000 Israeli armed forces personnel are slated to take part, the newspaper reported (Elad Benari, Arutz Sheva, Jan. 27)