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U.S. X-Band Radar Sites Focus on Iran
(Washington Post) Walter Pincus - There has been a continued buildup of U.S. X-band radar in the Middle East that enhances antimissile defense capabilities against Iran. The first AN/TPY-2 radar went into a spot atop Mt. Keren in Israel's Negev Desert, where a discreet U.S. military installation is operated by 150 U.S. service members and contractors. Tehran is about 1,000 miles to the northeast, but the radar is "so sensitive it can spot a softball tossed in the air from 2,900 miles away," TIME magazine reported in 2012. Another AN/TPY-2 radar is deployed at Turkey's Kurecik air force base, 240 miles from the Iranian border. It, too, is operated by 150 U.S. military personnel and contractors. More recently, the Wall Street Journal disclosed a similar X-band radar going to a secret site in Qatar, all but guaranteeing early warning for missiles launched from almost any part of Iran and aimed at the Middle East.