The U.S. missile defence programme

Later this year, the Czech Republic and Poland will decide whether to host components of the United States missile defence system on their territory. Talks with Washington have been underway since January 2007. The United States would like to station radar on a former military base in the Czech Republic, while Poland would host ten interceptor missiles. The purpose would be to defend the United States mainland and Europe against missiles launched from Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East. The Czech and Polish sites would enlarge the architecture of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System (GMD) protecting the United States. This system currently consists of a network of sensors and missiles stretching from Japan to Alaska.