Last week, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of US Fifth Fleet, traveled to Israel and met with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Aviv Kohavi, Commander of the Israel Navy Vice Admiral David Saar Salama, and other high-ranking officers of the Israeli Navy.
The meetings’ primary focus was how to curb and counteract the threat posed by Iran in the region, Breaking Defense reported. The two navies ironed out how to counter Iran’s manned and unmanned fast attack boats.
An Israeli source relayed to the outlet that the two sides will have “open channels” that will allow the two navies to engage in combined operations.
The meetings are part of the US transfer of the responsibility for Israel from the US Europe Command (EUCOM) to the US Central Command (CENTCOM). The shift sees Israel’s joint naval operations with the US shift from the Mediterranean, as it was under EUCOM, to the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean under CENTCOM.
With Israel’s naval capabilities becoming more important to its defense, their navy has garnered a large share of the nation’s defense funding. Israel has acquired German submarines and warships, Saar 6 corvettes and Dolphin 2 advanced submarines in recent years in order to bolster their maritime defenses.
The Saar 6 corvettes will carry a combined air defense system, a naval extension of Israel’s Iron Dome.