By Thom Shanker
Published: November 2, 2007


WASHINGTON: To block American proposals for building missile defenses in Europe, President Vladimir Putin of Russia surprised the White House in June with a counteroffer to let the United States use of one of the Kremlin's most secret early-warning radars.
That Russian radar, located in Azerbaijan, a neighbor of Iran, has since been a central focus of negotiations between Washington and Moscow. But much about it had remained mysterious.
Now, the first American military officer to visit the Russian radar said Friday that he came away with significant impressions: The radar is huge, almost twice the size of a similar American system. Despite its reliance on outdated, vacuum tube technology, the system is extremely capable as an early warning radar scanning the skies over the Middle East.
But the officer, Brigadier General Patrick O'Reilly, deputy director of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, said the Russian early warning system could not replace the American radar proposed for the Czech Republic, which is designed for very precise tracking and targeting.
After Putin's offer this summer of access to the radar, O'Reilly led a six-member team to the site in Azerbaijan in mid-September, the first time American military officers had been allowed inside one of Russia's most secret installations.



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http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/...pe/missile.php