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U.S. Attempts To Convince NATO Of Missile Defense Program: Paper
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| Powell and Robertson met in DC to discuss reforms ahead of U.S. tour to NATO capitals |
WASHINGTON, June 29 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United States will dispatch envoys to NATO capitals next month in a bid to enlist the support of foreign governments and businesses for its national missile defense program, The Washington Post reported Saturday, June 29, 2002.
The daily said Pentagon officials considered foreign support, in the form of basing rights for radars and interceptors as well as technological assistance, to be critical in developing the antimissile system. Thus far, U.S. allies have been extremely disparaging of plans to build the system.
The demise this month of Washington's 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Moscow has opened the way for formal talks about foreign participation, The Post said, citing unnamed defense officials.
"We need to start talking to our allies about what their desires might be, what our needs might be, and see if we can come together in some agreement, "Lieutenant General Ronald Kadish, director of the Missile Defense Agency, was quoted as saying.
"The treaty specifically prohibited us from sharing blueprint-quality type information with our allies, certainly against long-range threats," Kadish continued.
"Now that's gone away. . . . We need to start talking to our allies about what their desires might be, what our needs might be, and see if we can come together in some agreement."
The daily quoted officials as describing the upcoming discussions as largely exploratory, aimed at getting a better idea of what foreign contractors might have to offer and possibly allowing U.S. officials to outline some notional system architectures.
Some of the options, likely to be discussed, included basing a radar in Turkey for early warnings of missiles launched from the Middle East, stationing interceptors in one or more central European countries and using British ship-borne radar technology, the Post said.
Several examples of bilateral cooperation in developing shorter-range antimissile systems already exist, including the Arrow program with Israel, the Medium Extended Air Defense System with Germany and Italy, the Standard Missile III program with Japan and an observation satellite program known as RAMOS with Russia, The Post said.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met with NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson in Washington D.C. last week to discuss international concerns for the U.S.’s “war on
terrorism."
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