Americans deploy anti-missile radar in "Israel" - radio

Source: AFP, 28-9-2008
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: The United States has recently deployed an anti-missile radar in "Israel" that is mainly to warn of incoming Iranian weapons, "Israeli" state radio reported Sunday.
The radar, said to have a range of more than 2,000 kilometers is located in the south of the country, the radio added, and is operated by a permanent 120-strong US Army staff.
Questioned by AFP, an "Israeli" WAr Ministry spokesman said he did "not know about such a deployment."
A senior Pentagon official had said in late July that US Defense Secretary Robert Gates agreed to explore deploying powerful radar in "Israel". "The idea here is to help "Israel" create a layered missile defense capability to protect it from all sorts of threats in the region, near and far," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Besides the radar, Gates also agreed to explore sharing early warning launch data, as well as US funding for two costly "Israeli" projects designed to counter short-range rockets and mortars, he said.
The official said deploying the X-band radar was a near-term proposition, adding "all this is moving pretty quickly."
"We are going to station this land-based system there, and the "Israelis" would plug into it," said the official.
The radar was described as a powerful phased-array system that can target the warhead of a long- or medium-range missile in space.
The official linked the assistance to the US administration's push for progress on a road map for peace between "Israel" and the Palestinians. But it appeared to be more directly related to "Israel's" concern about Iran's nuclear program.