US to build missile defense radar in Russia, Iran's neighborhood

A post on the blog Arms Control Wonk by Dr. Jeffrey Lewis of Harvard University first pointed to evidence of the plans, drawing on a tip from former CIA Analyst Allen Thomson.

A fact sheet issued by the Missile Defense Agency points to plans to install a "forward-based X-Band radar" in the Caucasus sometime during the years 2008 or 2009. An MDA PowerPoint presentation from 2005 further confirmed the plans.

The X-Band radar is a key part of the American missile defense architecture, described the Federation of American Scientists as, "the primary fire control sensor, providing surveillance, acquisition, tracking, discrimination, fire control support and kill assessment for the NMD system." Two more are planned in Europe and East Asia according to the fact sheet.

Placing the radar in the Caucasus region would expand coverage of the missile defense system to parts of Russia and Iran, as well as other potential states in the area with ballistic missiles. Lewis and Thomson speculated that Azerbaijan and Georgia could be the host countries, although they offered no concrete evidence of the claims.

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