On Wednesday, it was announced the 10th biannual Juniper Cobra exercise between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the United States European Command (EUCOM) was suspended over fears of the spreading Coronavirus. The exercise would have simulated a scenario in which American forces are deployed in Israel to work with the IDF’s air-defense force, including simulations of the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 defense systems, and an advanced version of the Iron Dome.

On Thursday, while addressing the House Armed Services Committee, General John Murray, Commander of the Army Futures Command, announced that the Israeli Iron Dome is not compatible with the future IBCS command and control system. The Army decided to purchase two batteries last year after Congress mandated the Army deploy an interim cruise missile defense capability by Fiscal Year 2020. General Murray cited interoperability, cyber security, and other challenges and said, “so what we ended up having is two stand-alone batteries that will be very capable, but they cannot be integrated.”

On Monday, North Korea fired at least three large caliber rockets from its KN-25 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) into the East Sea. The launches were part of a second artillery strike drill exercise in a week. The large caliber rockets reached a max apogee of 50 km and travelled a max of 200km. Monday’s launches are likely intended to reduce the interval time between launches ahead of an operational deployment, according to multiple experts and military sources.  

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