NYT: US, Gulf Allies Pursue a Missile Shield Against Iran
Local Editor
US famous daily "NYT" revealed Thursday that "United States and its Arab allies are knitting together a regional missile war system across the Persian Gulf" to face Iran.
According to US government officials and public documents, "the US step came to protect cities, oil refineries, pipelines and military bases out of fear from an Iranian attack."
"It is an enterprise that is meant to send a pointed message to Tehran, and that becomes more urgent as tensions with Iran rise. But it will require partner nations in the gulf to put aside rivalries, share information and coordinate their individual arsenals of interceptor missiles to create a war shield encompassing all the regional allies."
The daily unveiled that "during a recent visit to Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was among the first to raise the need for the missile shield three years ago."
"Clinton sought to spur the gulf allies," the report mentioned.
During a session in March of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Clinton stressed that "we can do even more to defend the gulf through cooperation on ballistic missile defense."
"Sometimes to defend one nation effectively you might need a radar system in a neighboring nation," she said adding, "But it's the cooperation - it's what they call ‘interoperability' - that we now need to really roll up our sleeves and get to work on."
The paper further uncovered that "the US and its allies step includes deploying radars to increase the range of early warning coverage across the Persian Gulf, as well as introducing command, control and communications systems that could exchange that information with missile interceptors whose triggers are held by individual countries."
"For that purpose, the Pentagon late last year announced a contract for the sale of two advanced missile defense radars to the United Arab Emirates," the paper stated and noted that "early this year, officials disclosed that a similar high-resolution, X-band missile defense radar would be located in Qatar, as well."
The daily highlighted that "the administration's European initiatives have been embraced by NATO and are being put into place after formal negotiations with countries that will host early warning radars, ground-based interceptors and Navy warships equipped to track ballistic missiles and shoot them down."
"Three weeks ago, the Pentagon announced the newest addition to Persian Gulf missile defense systems, informing Congress of a plan to sell Kuwait $4.2 billion in weaponry, including 60 Patriot Advanced Capability missiles, 20 launching platforms and 4 radars. This will be in addition to Kuwait's arsenal of 350 Patriot missiles bought between 2007 and 2010," it clarified.
Moreover, the documents show that "the United Arab Emirates acquired more than $12 billion in missile defense systems in the past four years."
" Saudi Arabia also has bought a significant arsenal of Patriot systems, the latest being $1.7 billion in upgrades last year," they said and noted that "the United States' own military forces provide a core capability for ballistic missile defenses in the Persian Gulf, in particular the American Navy vessels with advanced tracking radars and interceptor missiles."
According to Navy officials, these Aegis missile systems, carried aboard both cruisers and destroyers, are in the region on continuous deployments.
"And the United States has deployed a number of land-based missile defense systems to defend specific American military facilities located around the gulf."
Source: NYT, Edited by moqawama.org
US famous daily "NYT" revealed Thursday that "United States and its Arab allies are knitting together a regional missile war system across the Persian Gulf" to face Iran.
According to US government officials and public documents, "the US step came to protect cities, oil refineries, pipelines and military bases out of fear from an Iranian attack."
"It is an enterprise that is meant to send a pointed message to Tehran, and that becomes more urgent as tensions with Iran rise. But it will require partner nations in the gulf to put aside rivalries, share information and coordinate their individual arsenals of interceptor missiles to create a war shield encompassing all the regional allies."
The daily unveiled that "during a recent visit to Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was among the first to raise the need for the missile shield three years ago."
"Clinton sought to spur the gulf allies," the report mentioned.During a session in March of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Clinton stressed that "we can do even more to defend the gulf through cooperation on ballistic missile defense."
"Sometimes to defend one nation effectively you might need a radar system in a neighboring nation," she said adding, "But it's the cooperation - it's what they call ‘interoperability' - that we now need to really roll up our sleeves and get to work on."
The paper further uncovered that "the US and its allies step includes deploying radars to increase the range of early warning coverage across the Persian Gulf, as well as introducing command, control and communications systems that could exchange that information with missile interceptors whose triggers are held by individual countries."
"For that purpose, the Pentagon late last year announced a contract for the sale of two advanced missile defense radars to the United Arab Emirates," the paper stated and noted that "early this year, officials disclosed that a similar high-resolution, X-band missile defense radar would be located in Qatar, as well."
The daily highlighted that "the administration's European initiatives have been embraced by NATO and are being put into place after formal negotiations with countries that will host early warning radars, ground-based interceptors and Navy warships equipped to track ballistic missiles and shoot them down."
"Three weeks ago, the Pentagon announced the newest addition to Persian Gulf missile defense systems, informing Congress of a plan to sell Kuwait $4.2 billion in weaponry, including 60 Patriot Advanced Capability missiles, 20 launching platforms and 4 radars. This will be in addition to Kuwait's arsenal of 350 Patriot missiles bought between 2007 and 2010," it clarified.
Moreover, the documents show that "the United Arab Emirates acquired more than $12 billion in missile defense systems in the past four years."
" Saudi Arabia also has bought a significant arsenal of Patriot systems, the latest being $1.7 billion in upgrades last year," they said and noted that "the United States' own military forces provide a core capability for ballistic missile defenses in the Persian Gulf, in particular the American Navy vessels with advanced tracking radars and interceptor missiles."
According to Navy officials, these Aegis missile systems, carried aboard both cruisers and destroyers, are in the region on continuous deployments.
"And the United States has deployed a number of land-based missile defense systems to defend specific American military facilities located around the gulf."
Source: NYT, Edited by moqawama.org
