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The United States will soon link Israel to an advanced missile detection system as a precaution against an attack from Iran. The powerful radar, known as the forward-based X-band, will be posted in Israel “before the new administration arrives” in January, according to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
“In a few months, Israel will be stronger and more prepared in the realm of protection against long-distance threats,” Barak said. The X-band system can track an object the size of a baseball from about 2,900 miles away, allowing Israel to engage an Iranian Shihab-3 ballistic missile about halfway into its 11-minute flight to Israel.
The U.S. Department of Defense said it understood Israel’s position in the Middle East. “Like the Israelis, we see the Iranians racing to build a ballistic missile capability, and so we are working to help the Israelis fortify their defenses as quickly as possible,” Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell explained.
Reps. Jane Harman (D-CA) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) played a critical role in ensuring that Israel was given access to the X-band. Last May, the two lawmakers spearheaded a letter to President Bush—signed by nearly 70 House members—that called on him to share the system with Israel.
“Given the Iranian president’s threat to ‘wipe Israel off the map,’ we should put the full weight of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense system behind our democratic ally,” the letter stated. •NER•
