Jordanian, ’Israeli’ Combat Pilots in Recent US Drills

Local Editor

Jordanian fighter pilots trained closely with their "Israeli" counterparts at a US-hosted air force exercise this summer, an American official said, in a rare acknowledgment of intimate military cooperation between the "Israeli" regime and its Arab neighbor to the east.

The US official's comments, reported by Reuters on Tuesday, came as "Israel's" War Minister Moshe Ya'alon more vaguely confirmed the cooperation. Ya'alon said in a speech Tuesday that "Israeli" pilots trained with unspecified Arab pilots in the course of July's "Red Flag," the latest in a series of joint combat training exercises frequently hosted by the US in Alaska.
Egypt is known to have participated in previous "Red Flag" exercises; Jordan is not.

"There were Arab pilots there too, and pilots from the various branches of the United States military and other countries," Ya'alon said Tuesday.

The unnamed US official quoted by Reuters elaborated that Jordanian warplanes flew out with "Israel's" jets in the course of the drill, and even refueled from an "Israeli" tanker over the Atlantic Ocean.

The "Israeli" regime and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994, and quietly maintain intimate security and economic relations. But they are not known to have ever acknowledged conducting joint air force training.

While the peace treaty is not popular among ordinary Jordanians, and is routinely criticized during flare-ups in the "Israeli"-Palestinian conflict, the "Israeli" regime and Jordan share many regional concerns, including over Iran's nuclear ambitions and the threat posed by "ISIS".

For the past two weeks, the "Israeli" Air Force had been hosting the country's largest ever international air exercise, drilling against a fictional enemy state.

The "Blue Flag" exercise, a follow-up to "Red Flag" which was due to end on Tuesday, involves the "Israeli" Air Force, the United States Air Force, Greece's Hellenic Air Force and the Polish Air Force, the captain in charge of all "Israeli" air force exercises told The Times of "Israel" last week. A number of other countries, including Germany, also sent pilots and officers to observe the exercise but did not take part.

"Asked whether Jordan... was among the "Blue Flag" participants, "Israeli" military spokesmen declined to comment," Reuters reported Tuesday. "Jordanian officials also declined comment on both drills," it said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team