Bulgaria to Ask Bush about Proposed U.S. Anti-Missile Defense System
June 6, 2007 :: News
Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin said his country would discuss its concerns over the U.S. plan to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe when U.S. President George W. Bush visits Sofia next week. Specifically, the Bulgarian president has indicated an interest in being included in any such NATO defense. The area defended by the system currently envisioned would not cover Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, and parts of Romania. Bulgaria has criticized the plan saying it would leave these NATO members "between the missile shield and a growing tension in Russia." (Article, Link)
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Russia Warns Poland Against Hosting U.S. or NATO Missile Defense Site
October 3, 2006 :: Interfax :: News
Russia today warned Poland against hosting a U.S. or NATO missile defense site on its territory, reports Interfax. Speaking before the start of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s official visit to Poland, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin was quoted as saying, “We regard negatively U.S. plans to deploy anti-missile defense system in Europe, and we believe that with the possible deployment of the European NATO missile defense system it would have a negative impact on strategic stability, regional security and intergovernmental relations.” Kamynin added that “a new situation like this one will objectively require us to take appropriate measures because we cannot rely in such matters solely on statements that the missile defense systems of the U.S. and NATO in Europe ‘are not aimed’ against Russia.” Kamynin did not say what measures Russia might take in response, but the military chief of staff, Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, warned in a Polish newspaper last month that “deploying the large-scale U.S. anti-missile shield threatens to spark a new arms race.” U.S. officials have said that the site would be designed to defend Europe against intercontinental-range ballistic missiles launched by rogue states such as Iran or North Korea. (Article, Link)
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SAIC-led Consortium Wins $95 Million NATO Missile Defense Contract
September 18, 2006 :: Reuters :: News
NATO has awarded a $95 million contract to an international consortium led by U.S.-based Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to integrate the Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (ALTBMD) currently being developed in Europe. The project will network existing and future national missile defense systems, sensors, battle management and command, control, and communications systems. The total cost for NATO is expected to be $823 million, while the cost of individual weapons systems to be bought separately by national governments is expected to be much higher. The SAIC-led consortium also includes Raytheon from the U.S., Thales of France, IABG and Diehl from Germany, Britain’s Qinetiq, the Dutch company TNO, DATAMAT from Italy, and the European satellite giant EADS Asterism. (Article, Link)
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NATO Said to Warm to European Interceptors
July 6, 2006 :: Financial Times :: News
NATO is considering plans for a Europe-wide missile defense system that would protect the entire continent from Iranian and North Korean missile strikes, reports the Financial Times. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO secretary-general, has urged member states to seriously consider a recently issued 10,000-page report recommending such a system. “We need to have an active debate within the alliance on missile defense to ensure that we have a common view and a common way forward,” said a spokesman for De Hoop Scheffer. The 26 NATO ambassadors are likely to discuss the conclusions of the report soon, according to the Financial Times.
In recent years, European governments have begun to take the idea of missile defense seriously. NATO has already begun work on a theater missile defense system to protect deployed troops, scheduled to be operational by 2010. In addition, several member states such as Poland, the Czech Republic, and Britain, are currently in talks with the U.S. about the possibility of allowing the Pentagon to deploy missile defense assets on their territories. (Article, Link)
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Hackett on NATO Plans
May 22, 2006 :: Washington Times :: News
NATO plans to study ways to integrate existing European theater missile defense systems, writes James T. Hackett in The Washington Times. The goal will be to create an “alliance shield” that will allow data from land-, sea- and space-based sensors to be consolidated through a unified command system and provided to available interceptors. The integration is planned to start this year. At present, several European countries possess limited theater missile defenses. Germany, the Netherlands, and Greece have Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) interceptors. Spain plans to get the PAC-2 soon, and the Dutch are upgrading to the PAC-3. Germany, Italy, and the U.S. are jointly developing the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), which will use an enhanced PAC-3 interceptor. U.S. Aegis-equipped warships in the seas around Europe are equipped with SPY-1 early-warning radars, and some will soon carry SM-3 interceptors. Spain and Norway will soon own Aegis-equipped frigates as well, and Germany plans to develop a sea-based BMD for some of its own frigates. Great Britain, Italy, and France are developing the Aster-30, a sea-based air defense system that is being upgraded to a BMD capability. Turkey has just allocated $1 billion to purchase a missile defense system. (Article, Link)
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Movement on NATO Defenses; Joint Russian-U.S. Test Scheduled for October
May 11, 2006 :: AP :: News
NATO experts released a 10,000-page report yesterday warning of a mounting threat of missile strikes against allied nations, and urged governments to consider plans for developing missile defenses in Europe. Marshall Billingslea, NATO’s assistant secretary general for defense investment, told reporters that the 26-nation alliance could build an effective network of sensors and interceptors to shoot down incoming missiles without over-stretching defense budgets. NATO leaders are expected to discuss the prospects of building such a defense at a November summit in Riga, Latvia. NATO is already working to develop a multimillion-euro defense system designed to provide battlefield protection to troops threatened with missile attack. The system is expected to be fully operational by 2012.
It was also announced yesterday that Russia and NATO will conduct joint theater missile defense exercises in October. According to General Yury Baluyevsky, Russian Army Chief of Staff, “This is one of the areas where we see concrete results that satisfy both Russia and NATO.” Last year, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov spoke at a session of the Russia-NATO Council, where he stressed the need to boost cooperation between Russia and NATO in the theater missile defense area. (Link)
» Voice of America: NATO Official on missile threat to Europe; defenses said feasible
» More stories on: Allies, European Missile Defenses, Russia, Testing - Russia/NATO
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