August 4, 2010 :: Washington Post :: News
The Washington Post, citing Pentagon sources, reports that Turkey or Bulgaria will likely host an X-band radar installment as part of the Obama administration's 'Phased Adaptive' european missile defense. The X-band would be added to a radar installation already deployed in Israel, and would be augmented by one installed in the territory of one of America's Arab allies.
The radars will provide early warning for a european missile shield that will eventually encompass both ground-based (THAAD, 'Aegis-Ashore,' and a final layer of Patriot missile batteries) and sea-based (Aegis BMD ships, equipped with SM-3 interceptors) components. The current deployment schedule's final goal is 2020. Romania will host the first Aegis Ashore system (scheduled for 2015) and Poland the second (scheduled for 2018).
The Obama administration has plans to substantially increase the number of Aegis BMD ships at sea, to 38 by 2015, and to triple the number of SM-3s from the original goal of 147 to 436, also by 2015. This number of interceptors is thought to be more realistic given the possibility of a salvo-type attack (many missiles rather than one or a couple of ICBMs) launched by Iran on Europe. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has said that such an Iranian attack on Europe is more likely than one or a few missiles. (Article)
