By Xinhua
Brussels : NATO will open a special testing facility for its missile defence system in The Hague, the Netherlands, Thursday, said the alliance.
The “integration test bed” tests the designs for NATO systems that will allow European and the US missile defence technologies to work together as part of NATO’s theatre missile defence (TMD) system.
The alliance hails the opening of the test facility as a major milestone for its TMD programme. “This is a crucial step toward a theatre missile defence capability,” said Peter Flory, NATO assistant secretary general for defence investment.
In January, nine months ahead of schedule, the facility conducted tests with Dutch and the US facilities in which European and the US systems successfully countered a simulated ballistic missile attack against NATO forces, said NATO.
“The test bed is the lynchpin of the project. It allows us to determine whether we actually can get the different components to work together, and work together rapidly enough to counter one or several missile attacks,” said Flory, who is to open the facility.
NATO has been developing its TMD programme for years. The system, aimed at protecting security forces against short and medium range ballistic missiles, is expected to be up and running by 2010.
The alliance is also considering docking its TMD system with a proposed US strategic missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic in an attempt to cover all territories of the 26-member NATO countries from missile threats.