Prague – The planned centre of early warning on Czech soil, now discussed by the Czech Republic and the U.S., will be part of NATO missile defence, would be probably operated by Czechs and would not require a new U.S.-Czech treaty, Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said today.

He said the U.S. has proposed to invest 2 million dollars in the project in 2011 and 2012.

The facility would gather the information from satellite sensors, thus helping uncover flying missiles targeting NATO territory, Necas said.

It is no base or a strictly military facility but rather a technical and administrative centre to be operated by a few people, he added.

Czech daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) today writes that the Pentagon has asked the U.S. Congress for finance to establish an early warning centre.

In the past, the U.S. negotiated with Prague on installing a missile defence radar southwest of Prague.

It scrapped the plan after the arrival of the Barack Obama administration last autumn and started discussing a new missile defence system in Europe within NATO.