16-12-2012, 09:37 AM
The October 1983 NSDD provided a much more durable basis for the development of U.S.-Israeli strategic cooperation than its precursor of 1981. When Premier Shamir visited Washington in November, the two sides agreed to the establishment of a new, formal Joint Political-Military Group (JPMG) that would convene every six months. President Reagan announced that the JPMG would, "give priority to our mutual interests posed by increased Soviet involvement in the Middle East. Among the specific areas to be considered are combined planning, joint exercises, and requirements for prepositioning of U.S. equipment in Israel."3'
The JPMG held its first meeting in January 1984, and over the next four years its achievements in shepherding increased strategic cooperation appeared impressive. Naval vessels from the U.S. Sixth Fleet started making regular port calls to Haifa; the United States leased 25 Kfir C-l fighters from Israel to simulate Soviet MiG planes in combat training; fleets from the two countries held joint anti-submarine warfare (ASW) maneuvers and passing exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean; Sixth Fleet aviators conducted bombing practice against targets in Israel's Negev Desert; several squadrons of USAF F-16s were deployed in Israel for joint exercises with the Israeli Air Force. In May 1986, Israel became the third country, after Britain and West Germany, to sign on to the SDI research and development program; the FY 1987 DoD budget bill reportedly authorized about $70 million for prepositioning American war material in Israel; and in July 1986, Israel agreed to the installation of Voice of America transmitters which would beam American programming into the southern parts of the Soviet Union."
The U.S.-Israeli Relationship in the Reagan Era
The JPMG held its first meeting in January 1984, and over the next four years its achievements in shepherding increased strategic cooperation appeared impressive. Naval vessels from the U.S. Sixth Fleet started making regular port calls to Haifa; the United States leased 25 Kfir C-l fighters from Israel to simulate Soviet MiG planes in combat training; fleets from the two countries held joint anti-submarine warfare (ASW) maneuvers and passing exercises in the Eastern Mediterranean; Sixth Fleet aviators conducted bombing practice against targets in Israel's Negev Desert; several squadrons of USAF F-16s were deployed in Israel for joint exercises with the Israeli Air Force. In May 1986, Israel became the third country, after Britain and West Germany, to sign on to the SDI research and development program; the FY 1987 DoD budget bill reportedly authorized about $70 million for prepositioning American war material in Israel; and in July 1986, Israel agreed to the installation of Voice of America transmitters which would beam American programming into the southern parts of the Soviet Union."
The U.S.-Israeli Relationship in the Reagan Era