Daily Alert Archives

U.S. to Help Israel with Missile Detection

[ Reuters] Dan Williams - The U.S. will soon link Israel up to two advanced missile detection systems as a precaution against any future attack by a nuclear-armed Iran, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday in Washington. Barak said he had secured the Pentagon's agreement to post the powerful forward-based X-band radar in Israel "before the new administration arrives" in January. Built by Raytheon, the system has been described by U.S. officials as capable of tracking an object the size of a baseball from about 2,900 miles (4,700 km.) away. It would let Israel's Arrow anti-missile missile engage an Iranian Shihab-3 ballistic missile about halfway through its 11-minute flight to Israel. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said: "Like the Israelis, we see the Iranians racing to build a ballistic missile capability and so we are working to help the Israelis fortify their defenses as quickly as possible." Barak said the U.S. will also increase Israel's access to its Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites, which spot missile launches. Israeli officials say past access to the DSP has been on a per-request, rather than constant, basis.
2008-07-30 01:00:00
Full Article