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Washington briefing : Pentagon wants anti-Iran radar in the Caucasus
by Emil Sanamyan
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2009-0 9-25-pentagon-wants-anti-iran-radar-in-the-caucasu s
Published: Friday September 25, 2009
Washington - A senior U.S. military official said that an American
early-warning radar (referred to as X-Band radar) aimed at missiles
potentially launched from Iran was "probably more likely to be in the
Caucasus," a region that is adjacent to Iran, rather than in European
countries that are further away.
Vice-chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright made the
comment during a September 17 Pentagon press conference intended to
explain the cancellation of U.S. plans for missile and radar
deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Chief of Russian General Staff Gen. Nikolay Makarov was quick to
respond. He said that Russia would view a U.S. radar in the Caucasus
"negatively" unless Russia and the United States were "to build it
jointly."
The United States first expressed interest in a Caucasus radar in
March 2007, when the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency at
the time, Gen. Henry Obering, floated the idea of a "mobile
anti-missile radar" in the Caucasus to monitor Iran; a U.S. official
soon after denied there were any deployment plans.
In June 2007, Russian leader Vladimir Putin suggested the United
States could receive information gathered by a Russian early-warning
radar base in Azerbaijan and other Russian facilities there instead of
unilaterally deploying new radars. The Bush administration took
interest in the offer, but U.S. officials argued that data supplied by
Russia could not be a substitute for a U.S.-run missile defense
system.
The United States has placed X-Band radars around the world, including
one in Israel last year, marking the first foreign military deployment
in Israel since its independence.
Of the three Caucasus states, only Georgia publicly welcomed the
potential U.S. radar deployment, Eurasianet.org reported on September
18.
The same day, Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister Araz Azimov said
that U.S. officials did not raise the issue during his Washington
visit last week, Azerbaijani media reported.
by Emil Sanamyan
http://www.reporter.am/go/article/2009-0 9-25-pentagon-wants-anti-iran-radar-in-the-caucasu s
Published: Friday September 25, 2009
Washington - A senior U.S. military official said that an American
early-warning radar (referred to as X-Band radar) aimed at missiles
potentially launched from Iran was "probably more likely to be in the
Caucasus," a region that is adjacent to Iran, rather than in European
countries that are further away.
Vice-chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright made the
comment during a September 17 Pentagon press conference intended to
explain the cancellation of U.S. plans for missile and radar
deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Chief of Russian General Staff Gen. Nikolay Makarov was quick to
respond. He said that Russia would view a U.S. radar in the Caucasus
"negatively" unless Russia and the United States were "to build it
jointly."
The United States first expressed interest in a Caucasus radar in
March 2007, when the director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency at
the time, Gen. Henry Obering, floated the idea of a "mobile
anti-missile radar" in the Caucasus to monitor Iran; a U.S. official
soon after denied there were any deployment plans.
In June 2007, Russian leader Vladimir Putin suggested the United
States could receive information gathered by a Russian early-warning
radar base in Azerbaijan and other Russian facilities there instead of
unilaterally deploying new radars. The Bush administration took
interest in the offer, but U.S. officials argued that data supplied by
Russia could not be a substitute for a U.S.-run missile defense
system.
The United States has placed X-Band radars around the world, including
one in Israel last year, marking the first foreign military deployment
in Israel since its independence.
Of the three Caucasus states, only Georgia publicly welcomed the
potential U.S. radar deployment, Eurasianet.org reported on September
18.
The same day, Azerbaijani deputy foreign minister Araz Azimov said
that U.S. officials did not raise the issue during his Washington
visit last week, Azerbaijani media reported.