Tsjechie en VS onderhandelen over mogelijke plaatsing raketafweersysteem bij Praag (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The United States and the Czech Republic are once again negotiating the possibility of building part of the US missile defence system in Prague, Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said on Friday. The Pentagon has already requested a sum of $2.2 million for the building from the US Congress.
The facility should be able to detect and give an early warning in case a short- or medium-range missiles aimed at Nato countries.
According to sources from the Czech Foreign Ministry, the new site should consist of two offices with equipment gathering data on enemy missiles, Czech daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) has reported.
Mr Necas said that only a handful of people would be needed to run the site and that the personnel could be drawn from the Czech army after undergoing training. The exact location has yet to been determined, but Prague or its environs is the main option.
The US plans to initially invest $2.2 million from 2011-2012 in the facilty, which should become part of a joint Nato missile defense shield in the future.
In its report to Congress, the Pentagon wrote that the early warning system was a high priority for the Departments of State and Defense and indeed the top of the US administration. According to the Pentagon, "within European missile defence, the early warning system is the most important part of the project."
The move comes after the Obama administration last year scrapped the Bush-era plan for basing long-range interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic as part of a missile defense shield Washington said was designed to offer protection from long-range missiles from countries such as Iran.
At the beginning of July, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton oversaw the signing of an agreement in Poland that sets up another part of the US missile shield, a permanent US missile base.
From 2018, Poland is to host mobile launchers that, according to the US, can shoot down a rocket from any range.
Russia opposes the building of a Polish base hosting US missiles, arguing that it will threaten its own security.
In both the Czech Republic and Poland a majority of citizens have been opposed to the plans. As of 2007, 57 percent of Poles rejected the idea as did 67 percent of Czechs.