March 4, 2005 :: Center for Security Policy :: Analysis
Responding to the recent successful intercept on February 24, the Center for Security Policy has posted praise for the Navy’s sea-based Aegis ballistic missile defense system to meet the growing missile threat. They note first the significance of the test:
Three features make this test particularly significant: For the first time, the hardware and software utilized was the operational configuration (known as AEGIS BMD 3.0) that will be installed in all other AEGIS missile defense ships. No less noteworthy is the fact that the SM-3 utilized to shoot down the target was one of the first of the production rounds to come off the manufacturing line. And, the personnel used to conduct the test were the regular crew of the U.S.S. Lake Erie.
In other words, this was the “real deal.” The option of complementing land-based anti-missile defenses with sea-based assets capable of both tracking ballistic missiles and destroying them in-flight is now in hand.
In addition to the exemplary performance of the Lake Erie and her crew, Thursday’s test also featured another important development. A second AEGIS ship, the USS Russell, brought to bear for the first time a new capability known as the AEGIS Ballistic Missile Signal Processor (BMSP). This S-Band radar provided real-time discrimination and classification of the target, information that considerably enhances the probability of intercept. The AEGIS BMSP holds great promise for expanding missile defense radar coverage at a fraction of the cost of other approaches.
The Center for Security Policy report then assessess the odd lack of support for the Aegis system:
…Sea-based anti-missile systems have generally been anathema, albeit for varying reasons. During the Clinton years, the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was sacrosanct and even seagoing missile defenses that were incapable of stopping long-range ballistic missiles - and therefore not covered by the Treaty - were considered to be problematic. Consequently, the Navy’s programs were often starved of funds. Amazingly, things have not been much better under a George W. Bush administration that came to office determined to withdraw from the ABM Treaty and to deploy effective, global missile defenses at the earliest possible time. The Missile Defense Agency has largely been allowed to give short shrift to the development and deployment of Navy anti-missile systems, in favor of ground-based interceptors and longer-term research and development efforts.
The Center’s advocated policy for sea based defenses are as follows:
Accelerate procurement of SM-3 missiles. Present plans call for the deployment of just 30 such missiles by 2007, of which only a few would be the Block I interceptor successfully tested last week. The rest would be upgraded Block Ia missiles that have yet to be proven, let alone put into full-scale production. A larger buy of both could enable more ships to be missile defense-capable, affording protection to larger areas of the globe and reducing the unit costs of the interceptors.
Retain five AEGIS cruisers that are being decommissioned at a roughly the half-way point in their planned service life. These vessels can be configured to be effective anti-missile ships at a fraction of the cost of new construction.
Resuscitate a program terminated several years ago to afford the Navy’s fleets protection against short-range ballistic missile attack. Scuds and similar missiles available to North Korea, Iran and China, among other potentially hostile states, demand the deployment at the earliest possible time of a capability like that of the so-called SM-2 Block IVa program.
Maximize the interoperability of U.S. sea-based missile defenses with the AEGIS ships of allied fleets - including those of Japan, Australia, Spain, Norway and South Korea. Doing so can complement America?s efforts to provide truly global protection against ballistic missile attack to our own forces, people and interests, while helping to defray the costs of such protection.
(Article)» Feb. 28, 2005: Gaffney on Aegis in Washington Times
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