The United States has agreed to link Israel into its advanced long-range missile detection systems to guard against potential attack by a nuclear-armed Iran, Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak revealed this week, at the end of talks in Washington with senior Pentagon officials, including US Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Nearly 70 members of Congress, including the top Democrat and Republican on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, sent a letter to President Bush urging him to offer a warning radar that is "fully integrated" with the emerging U.S. shield. Analysts believe that the idea behind this gesture is to encourage responsible elements in Israel to defer offensive measures against Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

Known as a Forward-Based X-band radar and built by Raytheon, the air-transportable system uses high-powered pulsed beams for high-resolution tracking of objects in space - such as a missile tipped with a chemical, germ or nuclear warhead. The system has been described by U.S. officials as capable of tracking an object the size of a baseball from about 2,900 miles away.

Below: X-Band Radar placed under a weather protective dome. (photo: Raytheon )

Military experts claim that the new system would enhance Israel's existing Arrow anti-missile system, allowing it to detect an Iranian Shehab-3 ballistic missile on ascent and intercept it about halfway through its estimated 11-minute flight profile. This would give the Israeli population at least five precious minutes to prepare for an Iranian missile hit. The range limits of Arrow's Green Pine radar are such that it can intercept a missile near or within its entry into the atmosphere, on its way to its target, with lesser warning time.