AzerNews,
19-25, September 2007
By Ilham Guliyev
AzerNEWS Staff Writer

US experts on Tuesday inspected Russian-operated Azerbaijani radar that Moscow has proposed as an alternative to Washington's plans for a missile defense shield in Europe.

Russian officers gave a tour of the radar site located in the country's western Gabala district to the U.S. delegation led by Army Brigadier General, deputy director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency Patrick O'Reilly. The visit was a tour of the facilities and a briefing by the Russians about their capabilities.

The three countries' representatives also talked over related technical issues. Azerbaijan was represented at the discussions by employees of the ministries of foreign affairs, national security and defense as well as the National Academy of Sciences.

It was the first time U.S. military experts have visited the 20-year-old radar.

O'Reilly said no official talks were underway on the radar station.

Azerbaijani officials confirmed that no formal agreements had been reached during the visit, saying the foreign experts' inspection of the radar station was merely a familiarization visit.

The outcomes of the visit will be discussed at the next meeting of US and Russian experts scheduled for October.

Washington is in talks with the Czech Republic and Poland to locate radars and interceptor missiles on their soil in a bid to protect itself against missile attacks from what it calls "rogue states" such as Iran and North Korea.

Russian opposition to the U.S. missile shield plan has put a strain on the two countries' relations. Moscow denounced the U.S. plan to deploy elements of its missile shield on the territory of the two ex-Warsaw Pact states, and has threatened to target its own missiles on Europe. President Vladimir Putin has instead proposed a collective missile shield in which Russia and European states could participate alongside the United States. US President George Bush said the Gabala offer was "innovative", but his officials made it clear that Washington would not back down from its plans to station radars in Eastern Europe.

Deputy chief of the Russian Space Troops headquarters, Gen-Maj. Aleksandr Yakushin said that if a decision is passed to use the Gabala radar jointly with the United States, the facility could be upgraded to improve the efficiency of its operation and ensure compatibility of the two countries' missile tracking systems. At the same time, he said the radar station was already operational.

"The facility is functional and it stands on alert," Yakushin said.

He said Moscow also planned to commission a radar station of the "Voronezh" type that would allow Russia to double its capabilities to control air and space "in the southward direction posing missile threats".

Yakushin added that the Azerbaijani radar would not be linked to the U.S. global missile defense system.

Gabala, among the world's biggest radars, has a 6,000 km range and scans the Indian Ocean, the Middle East and most of North Africa. The facility was built during the Soviet times and was one of the key elements of USSR's missile defense. Russia pays Azerbaijan $7 million a year to rent the station 230 km north of Baku.