Turkey's Place in the ‘Missile Shield’

The critical decision to share the advanced missile defence capabilities of the USA, also known as the ‘Missile Shield’, was taken at the Lisbon Summit meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in November 2010. Turkey had concerns about the Missile Shield project, which constituted an important item on the summit agenda. Turkey's concerns were addressed properly by the allies, and a key component of the project, namely, the radar site in eastern Turkey was activated in May 2012 at the time of the Chicago Summit of the Alliance. This paper aims to shed light on the background of the development and expansion of the missile defence project of the USA both at national and global scales. In the same vein, technological characteristics and operational principles of air defence systems as well as the reactions coming from other countries, such as Russia, China, Iran and the European allies will be presented. The paper will highlight the deliberations between Turkey and the USA since the 1990s with respect to the deployment of air defence systems on Turkish territory. Finally, Turkey's place in the debate concerning the deployment of the Missile Shield in NATO countries will be discussed with specific references to the role that Turkey could play in enhancing the defensive as well as deterrent capability of the Alliance and itself.