Pentagon wants to deploy radar station in Caucasus

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Pentagon would like to have a radar station in the Caucasus in the framework of Missile Defense Agency (MDA), which will be build in near future, Director of the Missile Defense Agency Lt. Gen. Henry Obering said in Brussels to a press conference. "We would like to deploy a radar in this region," he noted escaping to clarify what country the matter is about. Obering said, such an additional radar system would be useful for missile defense system, but it would not play a significant role. But he believes that Russia should not worry about it. "Ten anti-missiles in Eastern Europe cannot resist hundreds of Russian inter-continental ballistic missiles," the general stated.



The Russian News Agency reports that the Pentagon is going to invite Russians in order to acquaint them with objects in Czech Republic and Poland if they will be built. The first 10 interceptor missiles are supposed to be deployed in shafts in 2011, and the last missile will be constructed in 2013. The Pentagon plans to deploy a radar station in the Czech Republic in 2011. Currently the system is in the testing area of Marshal Islands.



Alongside the EU leadership thinks that every country is free to "make a choice to join American MDA or not", European Union foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana stated in Germany. He said, "the situation should not be dramatized," In his part German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, said that the MDA problem must be discussed between NATO and Russia "in order to disperse all fears of Russians".



Currently there is a functioning radar station in Azerbaijani district of Gabalin, which was built by Russians. Totally it costs $15 billion. Alongside there are two more American radar stations in Azerbaijan, each of which costs $2 billion and is much weaker of the Russian one. The term of lease of Russian radar station expires in 2012.