Pentagon prepares Europe to pick anti-missile site

Huntsville,Alabama,Aug 16: The Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency, concerned about a potential threat from Iran, plans to recommend in coming months a European site to host the first ground-based interceptor missiles outside the United States, the head of the agency said today.

Poland, the Czech Republic and Britain have been named by the agency as possible candidates to help bolster a fledgling US missile-defense shield against any missiles shot from the Middle East.

The initial configuration of the ground-based leg of the system, put together by Boeing Co., is aimed at thwarting ballistic missiles fired from North Korea.

In the next several months, ''we will have a recommendation with respect to sites and alternative sites'' in Europe, Air Force Lt.

Gen. Henry Obering told reporters yesterday after a speech to an annual missile-defense conference here.

But he said he did not know when to expect higher-ups to choose the so-called third site, which would join Vandenberg Air Force base in California and Ft Greely, Alaska, as home to silos housing US interceptor missiles.

The ultimate choice largely may reflect political trade-offs based on the kind of deals Poland or the Czech Republic are willing to strike with the Pentagon, outside experts said.

Riki Ellison, president of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a nonpartisan booster group for missile defense, said Poland was the Pentagon's first choice, followed closely by the Czech Republic.

Britain, further from the Middle East, would get the nod only if the other two balked, Ellison told Reuters, citing US senators and congressional staff.

Obering said the United States planned to install 10 ground-based interceptors at the projected European site by the end of 2011. By then, up to a total of 43 interceptors are due to have been installed in Alaska and California, he said.

Asked to describe the selection criteria, he spoke of optimizing protection for both the United States and its European allies from any Middle Eastern warheads. In addition, he cited the positioning of radar systems that would support the new site, infrastructure considerations and soil makeup.

The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency has begun working with Israel to help find ways to counter enemy rockets, a much shorter-range threat than the ''Star Wars'' mission to block ballistic missiles for which is it known, Obering told reporters.

He acknowledged some European allies had raised concerns about where the debris might fall from any missile shot down over Europe.

''I can tell you that our experience indicates that that is not something that needs to cause any kind of major alarm,'' he said, referring to what he described as the near total destruction of any missile payloads when slammed into by the interceptor missile's ''kill vehicle.'' Asked about the missile threat from Iran, Obering said ''We're concerned about them. That's one of the reasons why we have designed our system to be able to handle threats from that region.'' On North Korea, he said he did not take much comfort from the failure after 40 seconds of a long-range Taepodong 2 missile fired on July 4 US time.

''We do know they had a series of what appears to be successful launches of shorter-range missiles,'' Obering said. ''It shows their intent to build out their systems.''

Reuters