US Army soldiers during the closing ceremony held on 25 March 2019 for an exercise involving the deployment of a THAAD battery to Israel. A THAAD launcher can be seen on the right, and one from the Israeli Arrow Weapon System on the left. (US Army/Captain Aaron Smith, 174th Air Defense Artillery Brigade)
On 14 October an advance team of US military personnel and initial components to operate a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery arrived in Israel, Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder announced on 15 October.
He added, “Over the coming days, additional US military personnel and THAAD battery components will continue to arrive in Israel. The battery will be fully operational-capable in the near future, but for operations security reasons we will not discuss timelines.”
The announcement came four days after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin authorised the deployment of the THAAD battery to Israel to reinforce the Israeli integrated air-defence system following Iran's ballistic missile attacks on Israel on 1 October and 13 April, which Maj Gen Ryder announced later on 10 October.
A Pentagon spokesperson told Janes on 14 October, “For reasons of operations security, we have no details regarding the deployment timeline or further information regarding the THAAD battery to release at this time. However, we can say the THAAD battery will require approximately 100 US soldiers to operate the system.”
On 14 October Maj Gen Ryder noted that the US deployed a THAAD battery to the Middle East region following the 7 October attacks on Israel and first deployed a battery to Israel in 2019 for training and an integrated air-defence exercise. The 2019 deployment involved transporting 70 pieces of equipment and 230 personnel, the US military said at the time.
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