US is building a missile defense radar station at a secret site in Qatar, and organizing its biggest-ever minesweeping exercises in the Persian Gulf, Wall Street Journal quoted US officials as saying on Tuesday.
The report said that construction was due to be completed this month. The radar site is part of a system designed to defend US interests and allies against Iran's ballistic missiles, it said.The minesweeping exercises, in September, will be the first such multilateral drills in the region, and are expected to be announced by U.S. officials.The base in Qatar is slated to house an AN/TPY-2 radar, supplementing two similar arrays already in place in the Negev Desert and in central Turkey, the Journal said.Together, the three radar sites form an arc that US officials say can detect missile launches from northern, western and southern Iran.The paper also said the Pentagon chose to place the new radar site in Qatar because it is home to the largest US military air base in the region, Al Udeid Air Base.
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