US to be granted British air space

LONDON -- The British government said Wednesday that it intends to grant the United States permission to incorporate an air force base in northern England into its proposed missile defense network.\nDefense Secretary Geoff Hoon said he had reached a "preliminary conclusion" that Britain should allow the United States to upgrade and use the Fylingdales base in North Yorkshire.\nHoon said that ballistic missiles in the hands of "irresponsible regimes" were a real threat to British security and it would be irresponsible for the government not to acquire a defense.\n"It is the combination of ballistic missiles and the possession of these weapons of mass destruction, together with the demonstrated willingness to use these capabilities, that makes Iraq the most immediate state threat to global security," he told the House of Commons. "Elsewhere, if North Korea ends its moratorium on flight testing, it could flight test a missile with the potential to reach Europe and the United States within weeks."\nBush administration officials have said the United States must develop defenses in case a hostile country such as North Korea develops and fires a long-range missile at the United States. Critics have said the program is too expensive and the technology too uncertain.\nThe Pentagon hopes to have a permanent test site built in Alaska in four years that could provide some basic defenses for the project.\nHoon said the necessary upgrade of Fylingdales would be "an invaluable extra insurance" but did not commit Britain to any deeper involvement in missile defense. Such a decision could be made later, he said.\nFylingdales has operated since 1963 as a ballistic missile early-warning radar system, which together with other radars in the United States and Greenland provides tactical warning and attack assessment of a missile attack against Britain, North America or western Europe.\nThe United States is also seeking approval from Denmark to upgrade a similar radar complex at Thule Air Base in northern Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory. Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said last week that the request would be answered in June.\nHoon said the government planned to sign a deal with the United States that would give Britain full insight into the development of missile defense and the opportunity for British industry to benefit from participation.