Israel says it carried out a “joint” US missile launch in the Mediterranean, having earlier claimed ignorance. Russian radars detected two ballistic rockets fired in the region on Tuesday, sparking widespread speculation over who was behind the launch.
A spokesperson for the Israeli army confirmed that a launch of a missile had been carried out 9:15am local time (06:15 GMT), adding that US forces in the Mediterranean had been given prior warning of the drill.
A fighter jet launched an Ankor-type (“Sparrow”) missile as part of a drill to test the Israeli missile defense system. However, earlier, when the Russian government announced it had detected the firing of "two ballistic objects" in the area, Israel insisted it had no “information on this issue yet.”
Despite Israeli claims of a “joint US” missile launch, the American Navy maintained that no rockets were launched by US forces in the region.
"No missiles were fired from US ships in the Mediterranean," said the spokesman, who made no further comment on the matter.
Other members of the international community were quick to follow suit with France, UK and Italy denying any knowledge of the test launch. NATO said it was investigating the incident.
The Pentagon later admitted that the Israeli missile test in the Mediterranean was carried out “with technical support of the US Defense Department.”
The test was also “pre-planned,” according to the US Defense Department spokesman George Little quoted by Itar-Tass.
The Israeli Defense Ministry confirmed a US defense agency took part in a “successful flight test of the new version of the Sparrow target missile” in an e-mail statement to RT Arabic.
“Israel’s Missile Defense Organization and the US Missile Defense Agency officials conducted the flight test. The main contractor for the integration and development of the Sparrow is Rafael and the main contractor of the Arrow Weapon System is MLM of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in conjunction with Boeing,” the statement explained.
The Russian Defense Ministry initially reported that “two ballistic objects” were picked up on radars in the central Mediterranean and were moving towards the East. Later, citing a security source inside the Syrian government, RIA Novosti reported that the rockets had fallen into the sea.
Meanwhile, Syria’s missile detection system did not pick up any rockets landing on Syrian territory, a security source told Lebanese channel al-Manar TV.
). So my conclusion could be that on 4th Earth will be balance restored with two or more superpowers opposed each other in bigger STS domain and smaller STO domain that take advantage of STS's clashes... And as C's noted - smaller number of STO individuals can outbalance lager STS numbers... Oh it could be so interesting!
