Britain talking to US about role in missile system

LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) Britain is holding talks with the United States about participating in a US plan for a missile defence shield, the government said today.

Officials would not confirm the details of a report in The Economist magazine that Prime Minister Tony Blair was lobbying to secure a missile-interceptor site for Britain.

But a spokeswoman for Blair did confirm Britain had held talks ''at various levels'' with the United States on providing additional British support for the planned system, which would use interceptors to destroy incoming ballistic missiles.

''The discussions ... are at an early stage and no decisions have been taken as to whether any element of that system would be based in the UK or as to where they may be based in the UK,'' the spokeswoman said.

The government wants Britain to be taken into consideration while US discussions on the system are going on, she said.

Britain would like to see the missile defence umbrella covering Europe, not just the United States, another government spokesman said. He could not say how long the talks would go on.

A decision to base the interceptors in Britain would be controversial and expose Blair to more criticism from political opponents that he is too close to Washington.

Women campaigners held anti-nuclear protests for 19 years against the deployment of U.S. nuclear missiles at Greenham Common air base in southern England. The last missiles left in 1991 after the end of the Cold War but the camp was in place until 2000 after protesters won the right for a memorial there.

ON THE FRONT LINE The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) condemned any British involvement in the programme, saying the system would enable the United States to attack other countries without fear of retaliation.

''This puts the people of Britain at risk -- indeed it puts them on the front line in a future war,'' CND Chair Kate Hudson said in a statement.

US plans to build part of the missile shield in central Europe have led to tensions between Washington and Moscow.

The United States wants to place a radar system in the Czech Republic and a missile battery in Poland as part of a ''shield'' that would counter missiles fired by what Washington calls ''rogue states'' such as Iran and North Korea.

Russia sees the system as encroaching on its former sphere of influence and President Vladimir Putin has described the plans as a threat to his country's national security.

Blair's spokeswoman said Britain welcomed US plans to place further missile defence assets in Europe, calling it ''an important step towards providing missile defence for Europe.'' Britain agreed in 2003 to a U.S. request to upgrade early warning radar systems at the Fylingdales air base in northern England to allow its missile defence programme to go ahead. A government minister said at the time the decision kept open ''the prospect of acquiring missile defence capabilities for the UK''.

The Ministry of Defence said British officials were working with the United States and NATO to understand the ''political and operational implications'' of the missile defence system and to assess the feasibility of the technology involved.

Britain had made no decision whether to acquire a missile defence capability and the United States had not asked for any further British participation in its system, it said.

REUTERS SAM RAI2123