The Israeli and Turkish navies, and the American Sixth Fleet, will conduct, starting early tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, a joint exercise in the East Mediterranean, defined as one of the biggest joint exercises in the history of the region.
This is the first time the Israeli and Turkish navies are co-operating in operational exercises. Also taking part in the exercise will be Jordanian military observers, thanks to King Hussein’s having accepted the invitation extended by Defence Minister Yitzhak Mordechai.
It will be noted that last year, the Israeli Air Force conducted operational deployment at bases in Turkey, while the Turkish Air Force correspondingly deployed in IAF bases in southern Israel.
The exercise will take place in international waters, at a distance of 30-150 kms from the shores of Israel and Lebanon, and will feature missions of spotting ships and forces in distress, and extricating them by means of ships and helicopters.
At a briefing held for correspondents in Tel-Aviv prior to the exercise, a senior Naval officer said that two frigates, another naval vessel and a reconnaissance helicopter would represent Turkey in the joint exercise. The Sixth Fleet will be represented by the John Rogers destroyer, and two naval rescue helicopters.
Israel will send a number of naval vessels to the exercise, including the destroyer Saar 5, the most up-to-date in the whole arsenal, the Lahav naval missile boat, and Saar 4-type naval vessel Nitzahon. A Panther type naval helicopter operating in the Israel Air Force, and serving to spot maritime targets and extricate casualties, will take off and land from the deck of the Saar 5.
Air control of the exercise will be supplied by a Westwind reconnaissance plane, operating in a separate IAF squadron.