DEBKAfile Exclusive Report July 18, 2010, 8:41 PM (GMT+02:00)

A ballistic missile fired at Israeli from any spot in the Middle East, be it Iran, Syria or South Lebanon, can now be tracked from launch by top Israeli commanders by means of the Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense System (ALTBMD) developed to protect NATO forces against missile threat and provided Israel by the United States.

debkafile's military sources report: The system's interim stage links up radars of early warning sensors, radar, missile interceptors and space-based detectors. This integrated, layered protective network against tactical missile threats will alert Israeli division and brigade commanders in the field and the home front from a combined US-Israel operations center to the launching of a ballistic missile (from up to 3,000 kilometers) against Israel by sea, air or land.
For the first time, Israel's war commanders will be forewarned in real time of an approaching ballistic missile, its estimated launch point and impact target and be able track the engagement by counter-missiles. The information will give them a sense of whether the incoming missile threatens command bases, military forces or civilian population areas.

Our military sources add that the US Defense Department has decided to arm NATO generals in Afghanistan and Europe with interim ALTBMD capabilities by the end of the year, as part of America's preparations for war with Iran. It will be delivered by the contractors, ThalesRaytheonSystems.
In the last nine months, the US and Israeli armies have carried out two training exercises in the use of this system - first during the big Juniper Cobra 2010 war game last November just after an intelligence alert that Iran, Syria and Hizballah had doubled their ballistic missile arsenals; again, from June 6-10, when the USS Harry S. Truman Strike Force was anchored 50 miles off Israel's southern shore. They practiced combined responses to possible Iranian, Syrian or Hizballah attacks on Israel in the event of a war with Iran.

That exercise, dubbed Juniper Stallion 2010, tested command and battle management and combined early warning drills against incoming missiles. The American AN/TPY-2 radar network using X-Band for intercepting ballistic missiles posted on Mt. Keren (in the Israeli Negev opposite the Egyptian border) was linked for the purpose of the exercise to the Europe-based US Joint Tactical Ground Station (JTAGS).
debkafile's military sources confirm that henceforth the capability to put a tail on incoming enemy ballistic missiles is integrated into Israel's missile defense architecture as a valuable protective capability in a war situation.
http://www.debka.com/article/8917/