The Times of Israel reports: The Israeli Air Force conducted a test of its Patriot air defense systems on Tuesday evening, launching multiple interceptor missiles into the skies over central Israel, the army revealed the following day.

Ahead of the exercise, the military released a statement warning residents there would be several launches and that they could expect to hear explosions, but would not elaborate on which systems would be used.

On Wednesday, the military specified that the system tested was the Patriot surface-to-air missile, an American platform that has been in use by the IAF since the first Gulf War. In a statement, the army said the Patriot system was pitted against “various aerial threats” during the exercise.

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