The U.S. Missile Defense Agency Director Lieutenant-General Henry Obering (R) and Czech Republic's Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek answer questions by the media at the government headquarters in Prague Jan. 17, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    PRAGUE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. missile defense shield that is to include the radar base on Czech soil should be part of NATO's system, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and U.S. Missile Defense Agency chief Henry Obering agreed at a meeting of the Czech National Security Council on Thursday.

    "I am deeply convinced that the Bucharest NATO summit will show that the (U.S. and NATO) defense against short and medium-range missiles is clearly interlinked," the Czech news agency CTK quoted Topolanek as saying.

    He said that the danger of a rocket attack was no fiction and did not concern just one country.

    Both the Czech Republic and the United States reckon with the fact that within NATO they must discuss the issue also with Russia, he added.

    Obering said the U.S. system is well-functioning and it will defend the Czech Republic and other Central European countries against the threat from Iran.

    Iran was developing missiles that could hit a more distant target than for example Israel, he said.

    The planned radar base in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland would become elements of the system including also a mobile radar in Japan, interceptor missiles in Alaska, California and on ships, and a radar in Britain, according to Bering.

    However, Philip Coyle, a U.S. missile defense expert who is on visit to the Czech Republic these days, claimed that the U.S. anti-missile technology did not prove capable of defending Europe against an Iranian long-range missile attack. The planned U.S. anti-missile system is inefficient and ineffective.

    The United States initiated the plan to deploy an anti-missile radar base in the Czech Republic and a missile interceptor base in Poland.

    Russia has expressed strong objections to the U.S. missile defense program in Poland and the Czech Republic.

    Some 70 percent of Czechs reject the planned U.S. radar base in their country, according to a survey conducted by the CVVM polling institute.

    U.S., Czech to found consortium on U.S. missile defense research

    PRAGUE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. firms planned to found a consortium along with Czech scientific centers that would focus on the research of technologies related to the U.S. missile defense system, U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) head Henry Obering said at a press conference held here on Thursday.

    Obering said Czech Science Academy and universities will be part of the planned consortium that is to help prepare contracts between Czech and U.S. companies, the Czech news agency CTK reported. Full story

    FM: Czech likely to strike deal on U.S radar base construction by June

    PRAGUE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- An exclusive treaty on Czech firms and scientists participating in the U.S. missile defense project might be reached by the end of June, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said at a seminar on Czech-U.S. cooperation in missile defense on Wednesday.

    Henry Obering, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and representatives of 40 Czech firms and 10 U.S. companies also attended the seminar. Full story

    Obering: U.S. radar base construction may start year-end

    PRAGUE, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The basic work on the construction of a U.S. radar base in the Czech Republic can start at the end of this year, director of U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Henry Obering said here on Wednesday.

    According to the current plan, the United States will spend some 100 million U.S. dollars on the radar base in the initial stage, said Obering, who is attending a two-day seminar on trade cooperation between the Czech Republic and the United States in Prague. Full story