Strategic Importance of Gabala
During the 33rd G8 summit in Germany on June 7–8, 2007, Russian president Vladimir Putin made an offer to deploy elements of an American anti-ballistic missile system in Azerbaijan, instead of Poland (see US missile defense complex in Poland) and the Czech Republic, using the Gabala Radar Station jointly with Russia. This offer came after the debate about the U.S. plan to deploy anti-ballistic missile system components in Eastern Europe to defend against possible ballistic missile attacks from Iran and North Korea. The plan met with sharp criticism by Russia which threatened to target Europe with its own ballistic missiles despite US claims that the system was not designed to defend against a large scale Russian attack. The Gabala radar is used as a sensor for the A-135 ABM system which Russia has operated in Europe, near Moscow, since the 1970s.
In the beginning of July 2007 the US announced that the Gabala installation was not an acceptable substitute for the Poland and Czech Republic sites. In July 2007 at a Kennebunkport summit Russia offered data from Armavir too. Russia says that Gabala identified 150 launches of scud missiles during the Iran-Iraq war and has been watching Iranian missile launches. Data from Gabala, together with Armavir, was offered to the United States as they provide good coverage of any potential launches from Iran.
Armavir Gabala and Armavir shown in European Russia.Read more about this topic: Gabala Radar Station
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