UK Ministry of Defence,
Media reports suggest that the US government is considering whether Britain could be the host for its missile defence system.
The UK has so far agreed only to the upgrade of the Fylingdales early warning radar for missile defence purposes. The US has not asked us to site any further elements of the US missile defence system in the UK. If we are asked to take a decision, we will of course do so on the basis of our national interest.
The agreement to the upgrade of Fylingdales does not commit us in any way to further involvement in the US missile defence programme. We continue to have discussions with the US on a wide range of ballistic missile defence issues, including ballistic missile defence for Europe. However, these do not involve specific architectures or basing assumptions.
The UK has not yet decided whether we need our own missile defence, whether for ourselves alone or as part of a NATO-wide system. Wider European participation in a missile defence system, whether US-led or not, would not necessarily require interceptors to be based in the UK.
