Czech Republic, U.S. to create joint missile defense center
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Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said Friday that the Czech Republic and the United States will build a joint missile defense center on Czech soil next year.
As part of NATO's missile defense system, it will serve as an early warning center which collects satellite data to detect any possible missiles targeting at the NATO member states, Necas said.
The United States will provide 2 million U.S. dollars to build the center, which will be operated by the Czech side.
As the center is not a "super military base," but an administrative and technological project, the two countries would not sign an international protocol on the establishment of the center, he said.
Czech Defense Minister Alexandr Vondra said two offices will be set up for the center, with one in the Czech Headquarters of the General Staff, and the other somewhere else. Experts will monitor the movement of missiles on computer terminals in their office, he added.
The center is the first step of the 2020 missile defense program between on the two countries, the minister said.
Last September, U.S. President Barack Obama abandoned the plan to build a missile defense system in East Europe and adopted a new approach to missile shield program which, he said, would offer "strong, swifter and smarter" defense for the United States and its allies.
