FACTBOX: Proposed U.S. missile shield in East Europe

(Reuters) - Russia's president-elect, Dmitry Medvedev, struck a conciliatory note on Monday at the start of talks with visiting U.S. officials, saying there was a common will to solve problems between Moscow and Washington.

One of those problems has been a continuing row over U.S. plans to base parts of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, moves which Russia says threaten its security, and to U.S. resistance to a successor to the Cold War-era START treaty limiting long-range nuclear weapons.

Here are some facts about the proposed missile shield:

* The system, known to the Pentagon as the Ballistic Missile Defense European Capability, is intended to protect Europe and the United States against a limited intermediate and long-range ballistic missile attack from the Middle East. It would augment an existing anti-missile umbrella based in Alaska and California.

* The proposed $3.5 billion system would use "hit-to-kill" technology that operates without explosives. An array of sensors and radar would detect a missile in flight. A ground-based interceptor would then be launched to ram the incoming warhead at a closing speed of 15,000 miles per hour (24,000 kph).

* Washington has proposed placing as many as 10 interceptor missiles with a range of up to 1,800 miles in Poland. The missiles would be housed in underground silos in an area about the size of a football field.

* U.S. officials also proposed a radar installation for the Czech Republic. The facility would aim its radar beam at the Middle East to detect a missile threat in flight and guide interceptor missiles into the trajectory of the approaching warhead.

* If Washington can secure agreements with Poland and the Czech Republic, site construction could begin in 2009. U.S. defense officials say the European system could be fully operational by 2013.