US, Czech Republic ink missile shield agreement for X-band radar

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg signed an official agreement in Prague on 8 July to base part of the US's ballistic missile defence (BMD) shield on Czech soil.

The agreement will allow the US to site a mid-course X-band tracking radar at Brdy, in southwest Bohemia, to guard against the potential threat of missiles being fired from what Washington calls 'rogue states', such as Iran and North Korea.

"This missile defence agreement is significant as a building block, not just for the security of the United States and of the Czech Republic, but for the security of NATO and ultimately for the security of the international community," Rice said at the signing.

Approved by Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek at the NATO annual summit in Bucharest on 3 April, the official agreement between the Czech Foreign Ministry and US Department of Defence was expected in May but were delayed while negotiations on the Status of Forces Agreement relating to US troops deployed in the Czech Republic continued. These discussions remain open, however, and any agreement would need to be ratified by the Czech parliament and signed by President Vaclav Klaus. 197 of 552 words