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South Korea Considers Supporting U.S. Missile Shield

In an apparent reversal of a long-standing policy, the new South Korean president Lee Myung-bak has voiced a strong desire to participate in the U.S. global missile defense initiatives.  South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) has recommended the country provide missile launch sites for the U.S. military and buy Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) systems and Standard Missile ship-to-air interceptors to increase interoperability with the U.S. ballistic missile defense network.  A senior official within the South Korean JCS said, "The bottom line is that we will go in a direction toward developing our low-altitude intercept shield into an extended missile defense system."  Last year, South Korea launched its first of three planned 7,600-ton KDX-III destroyers, the Sejong the Great, equipped with the Aegis combat system and anti-air, land-attack and anti-submarine missiles. Two more ships will be commissioned in 2010 and 2012.  However, policy makers warn that such active participation by South Korea may provoke a backlash from regional powers such as China, Russia and North Korea.
 (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: South Korea, Allies

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Expresses Support for European Defenses

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas announced his country's support of the United States' plan to station missile defense systems in Eastern Europe.  The announcement came while the Foreign Minister was meeting with the Czech Republic's Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg on January 25.  Vaitekunas said Lithuania would support incorporating the system with NATO defense. Russia strongly opposes the U.S.'s plan, believing it is intended to blunt Moscow's influence in the region.  As a former republic of the Soviet Union, Lithuania's expression of support for the American-sponsored defenses is likely to irritate their Russian former masters. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Allies, NATO, European Missile Defenses

Pakistan Tests Hatf-4

Pakistan today conducted a successful test of its Shaheen-1/Hatf-4 ballistic missile, with a range of 700 km.  The test was described as routine, coming at the conclusion of a military training exercise.  It was the first missile test by Pakistan since the first of the year, and since the December 27 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

 

Few details were released about the test, including its location.  The Associated Press, however, carried an image of today's test said to be released by Pakistan's Inter-Services Public Relations Department. (Article, Link) 

» Missile details: Hatf 4

NATO 'Must Prepare to Launch Nuclear Attack'

A group of senior defense and military officials from various NATO countries issued a report analyzing the trans-atlantic alliance and making several policy recommendations. The report stresses that to stem further nuclear proliferation, the alliance should not rule out first-strike use of nuclear weapons. "The risk of further proliferation is imminent and, with it, the danger that nuclear war fighting, albeit limited in scope, might become possible... The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction.... To tie our hands on first use or no first use removes a huge plank of deterrence."  The report also proposes the alliance scrap consensus decision making, to speed the process when fast action is necessary. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: NATO, Policy, Nuclear Weapons

Crouch and Joseph on the Next Tough Steps for Missile Defense Policy

In today's Wall Street Journal former Deputy National Security Adviser J.D. Crouch, II and former Undersecretary of State Robert Joseph call for a bold and firm approach to ballistic missile defense and to space-based interceptors in particular.  In "Tough Calls, Good Calls," Crouch and Joseph liken the Bush administration's decision to withdraw from the ABM Treaty and to begin to deploy ballistic missile defense system to other tough choices guided by strategic foresight which have since been proven sound.  Crouch and Joseph point out that critics objecting to the ABM Treaty withdrawal predicted consequences of gloom and doom which never materialized, such as a new arms race.  "None of these things have happened as a result of the ABM Treaty withdrawal. But the decision will enable us to counter a still-growing 21st century threat."

 

Crouch and Joseph go on to argue that important, and "tough calls" remain for ballistic missile defense policyand the next presidential administration.  These steps include the European third-site for Ground-Based Interceptors, measures to combat countermeasures by North Korea and Iran, the development of multiple-kill vehicles, enhanced sea-based defenses, and finally space-based interceptors:

 

What are the next steps that the country should take to capitalize fully on this strategic choice?

 

First, the president's call for a third strategic missile defense site in Europe must be carried out. This site provides additional capability to protect the U.S., and to protect as well our European allies from a growing Iranian missile threat. The site would further cement the development of a global sensor-and-interceptor network necessary for effective missile defense. Failure to follow through would have implications for our alliances both inside and out of Europe.

 

Second, we can expect that rogue states such as North Korea and Iran are already looking at ways to counter our existing defenses. One way they might do this is to deploy decoys or other countermeasures on their existing offensive missiles that must be attacked, and could thus exhaust our limited supply of interceptors. Fortunately, we can now explore cost-effective solutions to this threat.

 

One solution is to develop interceptors with multiple kill vehicles -- something that was explicitly banned by the ABM Treaty. Another solution is to develop advanced discrimination techniques to tell the decoys from the real threats. These techniques include using radars, space-based sensors, or a new concept that uses dozens of miniature interceptors that can literally sweep away an entire threat cloud of decoys, allowing the missile interceptor to hone in on the real warhead.

 

None of these techniques is fully proven, but neither was the hit-to-kill technology begun by President Reagan and later successfully deployed by President Bush. We must focus investment in the discrimination problem and improve our existing systems with these new capabilities.

 

Third, we can do more to increase the capabilities of existing assets. We can, for example, improve our sea-based capabilities -- both our performance against long-range missiles and the number of assets deployed. Under the ABM Treaty, we had to "dumb down" our so-called theater systems to ensure that they could not be used to defend the U.S. from attack. Free from this restraint, as well as from the Treaty's prohibition on mobile-launch platforms, we can now do much more to integrate our defense with that of our allies and make the most of the assets we have deployed.

 

Finally, we must look again at space as a place to deploy interceptors.

 

There is no question that space provides the highest leverage against the missile threat: Targets are more visible, more accessible and more vulnerable when attacked from space. While there are concerns about "weaponizing space," these pale in comparison to the increasing vulnerability of U.S. space-based satellites by weapons from the ground traversing space. The recent Chinese anti-satellite test was a wake-up call.

 

Space-based interceptors, like those proposed by former President George H. W. Bush in 1991, have the potential to strengthen missile defense, and to provide protection for key intelligence and communications assets in space that are now vulnerable from ground-based attack.

 

The progress of the past six years stems from one tough decision. That very same decision will allow us to stay ahead of the 21st century ballistic-missile threat.

 (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Analysis, Deployment, Policy, Space-Based Systems, Treaties and Agreements

Russia Fires Cruise Missiles in Major Atlantic Exercise Near French and Spanish Coastlines

A Russian Tu-160 bomber test fired a P-500 (SS-N-12) Bazalt cruise missile during the country’s first major air and naval exercises in the Atlantic Ocean in fifteen years.  The test was conducted in the Bay of Biscay, off the coasts of NATO members France and Spain.  The P-500 is a liquid-fueled supersonic cruise missile, with a range of 550 kilometers and a payload of 1,000 kilograms.  The Russian Joint Naval Task Force, comprised of the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier other destroyers and submarine hunters displayed high interoperability with the aircraft and will continue to test various systems for several more days.  Russia’s latest exercise comes before its Presidential election, and is seen as part of a series of actions, including reviving North Sea overflights, to revive Russia’s military power. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Testing - Foreign, Russia

» Cruise missile details: SS-N-12

Second Battery of S-400 Interceptors to be Deployed in Moscow in 2008

Colonel-General Yuri Solovyov, head of Russia’s Air Force Special Command, announced on January 21 that a second S-400 Triumf regiment would be deployed in the Moscow region “by the end of 2008.”  The first regiment was deployed after a successful test of the S-400 last year. 

 

The S-400 is designed to defend against ballistic and cruise missiles and stealth aircraft at a distance of up to 400 kilometers, said to be twice the range of the U.S. Patriot interceptor.  The Colonel-General added that he wanted to expand the S-400's capabilities to intercept targets at even higher altitudes.  "We already have new missiles for the S-400 anti-aircraft system. These are surface-to-air missiles. We also need high-altitude missiles that can destroy targets in near space," he said. The S-400 will constitute the backbone of Russia’s theater air and missile defenses until 2020 or 2025. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Russia, Russian Missile Defenses

» Missile system details for: S-400 (SA-20 Triumf)

Slovakian Prime Minister Criticizes U.S. Missile Defense Talks with Neighbors

Slovakian Prime Minister, Robert Fico, has criticized the U.S.'s plan to station a ballistic missile defense system in the neighboring countries of Poland and the Czech Republic, while addressing the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly at a meeting in in Strasbourg. The Prime Minister said any plan to place a ballistic missile system in Europe should be conducted within NATO and the European Union, not bilaterally, and rejected the idea that bilateral talks between the United States and neighboring countries were none of Slovakia's business. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Allies, European Missile Defenses

Israel Tests Ballistic Missile

Israel today announced the successful test launch of a ballistic missile capable of carrying an "unconventional" warhead, presumably nuclear.  The missile was launched from the Palmachim military base near Jerusalem, where some 90 Jericho II missiles are believed to be stationed, according to Jane's Strategic Weapons Systems.  The identity of the missile was not released.  The Israeli Defense Force's brief press release on the test only described it as a "two-stage" missile.  The purpose of the test was described as "testing missile propulsion."  Israel has been believed to have had for several years the Jericho II missile with a range of 1500 km, and to be developing a Jericho III missile with a possible range between 4,800 and 6,500 km.  The Jericho III was at one time expected to be in service by 2008, but has also been previously reported as having three stages. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Testing - Foreign, Israel

» Missile details: Jericho 2, Jericho 3

India Set to Test Agni III+ in 2009, Agni IV in 2010

An Indian defense official has announced that India would test a new intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of 5,000 kilometers in the beginning of 2009.  Vijay Kumar Saraswat, program director for ballistic missile development at the Defense Research and Development Organization, made the announcement and gave a few indications of the missile's capability.  The new missile, designated "Agni III+" is an upgraded version of the Agni III intermediate-range ballistic missile developed by India.  The recently tested Agni III has a range of up to 4,000 km and is designed to carry a single nuclear warhead.  Sarasvat was also quoted as saying that an additional ICBM is being developed which would have a range of 6,000 kilometers.  This last missile, called Agni IV, has been scheduled for testing in 2010. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: India

» Missile details: Agni-3