Re: War in The Middle East
Interesting...
Interesting...
US to build missile defense radar in (Caucasus), Iran's neighborhood
The United States Missile Defense Agency is planning to build a radar facility connected to America's ballistic missile defenses systems somewhere in the Caucasus Mountains, RAW STORY has learned.
A post on the blog Arms Control Wonk by Dr. Jeffrey Lewis of Harvard University first pointed to evidence of the plans, drawing on a tip from former CIA Analyst Allen Thomson. A fact sheet issued by the Missile Defense Agency points to plans to install a "forward-based X-Band radar" in the Caucasus sometime during the years 2008 or 2009. An MDA PowerPoint presentation from 2005 further confirmed the plans.
The X-Band radar is a key part of the American missile defense architecture, described the Federation of American Scientists as, "the primary fire control sensor, providing surveillance, acquisition, tracking, discrimination, fire control support and kill assessment for the NMD system." Two more are planned in Europe and East Asia according to the fact sheet.
Placing the radar in the Caucasus region would expand coverage of the missile defense system to parts of Russia and Iran, as well as other potential states in the area with ballistic missiles. Lewis and Thomson speculated that Azerbaijan and Georgia could be the host countries, although they offered no concrete evidence of the claims.
Update: In a comment at the blog, MDA Spokesman Rick Lehner called the news out of date, but added "Remember that these radars are designed not to be permanent, but can be air-lifted to wherever they are needed to support missile defense. As such, there are no plans for possible locations. "
http://www.rawstory.com/admin/dbscri...php?story=2592
The United States Missile Defense Agency is planning to build a radar facility connected to America's ballistic missile defenses systems somewhere in the Caucasus Mountains, RAW STORY has learned.
A post on the blog Arms Control Wonk by Dr. Jeffrey Lewis of Harvard University first pointed to evidence of the plans, drawing on a tip from former CIA Analyst Allen Thomson. A fact sheet issued by the Missile Defense Agency points to plans to install a "forward-based X-Band radar" in the Caucasus sometime during the years 2008 or 2009. An MDA PowerPoint presentation from 2005 further confirmed the plans.
The X-Band radar is a key part of the American missile defense architecture, described the Federation of American Scientists as, "the primary fire control sensor, providing surveillance, acquisition, tracking, discrimination, fire control support and kill assessment for the NMD system." Two more are planned in Europe and East Asia according to the fact sheet.
Placing the radar in the Caucasus region would expand coverage of the missile defense system to parts of Russia and Iran, as well as other potential states in the area with ballistic missiles. Lewis and Thomson speculated that Azerbaijan and Georgia could be the host countries, although they offered no concrete evidence of the claims.
Update: In a comment at the blog, MDA Spokesman Rick Lehner called the news out of date, but added "Remember that these radars are designed not to be permanent, but can be air-lifted to wherever they are needed to support missile defense. As such, there are no plans for possible locations. "
http://www.rawstory.com/admin/dbscri...php?story=2592
Comment