These games are going on right now... FYI.

http://www.reuters.co.in/locales/c_newsArticle.jsp;:423044e6:be6c65ef4c396cf3?ty\
pe=worldNews&localeKey=en_IN&storyID=7864654
Israel, U.S. war game eyes Iranian missiles
Thu March 10, 2005 6:14 PM GMT+05:30

By Dan Williams

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israel and visiting U.S. troops began a biennial
air-defence exercise on Thursday that Israeli security sources said
aimed to boost the Jewish state's preparedness for any future Iranian
missile strike.

The month-long war game, codenamed Juniper Cobra, will test Israel's
Arrow II missile-killer system in conjunction with U.S.-supplied Patriot
batteries, which shoot down incoming threats at lower altitudes.

Israeli and U.S. officials described the drill, last held in 2001 on the
eve of the Iraq war, as routine.

"There is absolutely no connection with this exercise and any event in
the region," U.S. Army spokeswoman Connie Summers told the American
military newspaper Stars and Stripes.

But Israeli security sources said Juniper Cobra would treat Iran's most
advanced Shahab-3 missiles, which are thought capable of reaching
Israel, as the main "threat".

"These war games always take a real enemy into consideration," said a
source. "Last time, it was Iraq's Scud missiles. This time around, it's
the Iranian Shahabs."

Fears of a confrontation between Israel and arch-foe Iran have risen in
recent months. Israel and its U.S. ally accuse the Islamic Republic of
seeking nuclear arms and have hinted at military action as a final
option to stop it getting the bomb.

Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for energy needs only and that
the Shahab is intended as a deterrent -- especially against Israel's
assumed atomic arsenal. Iranian officials have vowed to retaliate if the
country is attacked.

The Arrow is the world's only system capable of intercepting missiles at
atmospheric level, an advantage considered key to prevent devastating
fallout from non-conventional warheads.

Iraq fired 39 Scuds with conventional warheads at Israel in the 1991
Gulf War, causing one death and extensive damage in residential
neighbourhoods mainly on the Mediterranean coast.

Patriot missiles supplied to Israel were largely ineffective in
intercepting the Scuds but have since been upgraded.

Independent experts estimate the Arrow's success rate at 95 percent but
some doubt whether it would be reliable against a salvo of Shahab-3s,
which are four times faster than Scuds.