Aegis Cruiser Shiloh to be Based Near Japan in 2006
February 15, 2006 :: Kyodo :: News
The U.S. Navy will deploy its Aegis cruiser Shiloh to Japan later this year, reports Kyodo. According to Admiral Gary Roughead, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, the 9,600-ton Shiloh will replace a similar ship already stationed in Japan, and will be armed with Standard Missile-3 interceptors. The move falls in line with the Defense Department’s plan for a greater military presence in the Pacific, outlined in its Quadrennial Defense Review issued earlier this month. In the QDR, the Pentagon singled out China as having the “greatest potential” to compete with the United States militarily, while keeping its eye on North Korea’s threat of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism in Southeast Asia. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Deployment, Japan
» Missile system details for: Aegis Ship-Based BMD
Tenth Interceptor Emplaced; Eight Now in Silos at Fort Greely
December 20, 2005 :: The Missile Defense Agency :: News
The Missile Defense Agency today issued a press release announcing the emplacement of the tenth Ground-Based Interceptor. The interceptor missile was put into a silo at Fort Greely in Alaska on December 17. The event marks the eighth interceptor deployed in Alaska; two others are at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The emplacement on December 17 is four years to the day after the White House issued a statement saying that the president had ordered the deployment of ballistic missile defenses.
The MDA press release noted that “Another interceptor missile will be emplaced in January 2006, followed by additional interceptors by the end of 2006.” The January emplacement date would appear to have been recent: an MDA press release of December 13 said that “Two additional interceptor missiles are scheduled for deployment at Ft. Greely by the end of this year.” The exact number now scheduled to be deployed in 2006 was not specified in either release. Today’s press release also, curiously, states that “In the interest of operational security, future interceptor emplacements will not be announced.”
The December 17 emplacement comes just four days after a successful test launch of a GBI missile from the Ronald Reagan Test site in the Marshall Islands, and three years to the day after the December 17, 2002 statement by the White House that the President had ordered the operational capability of these missile defenses in “2004-2005.” (Article, Link)
» December 17, 2002: White House orders missile defense operational in 2004-2005
» December 16, 2002: National Security Policy Directive (NSPD) 23, ordering operational deployment of missile defenses in 2004 and 2005
» More stories on: Deployment
» Missile system details for: Fort Greely
Ninth Ground Based Interceptor Emplaced in Silo at Greely
September 22, 2005 :: News
On September 18, the seventh ground-based midcourse interceptor at Fort Greely, Alaska, was emplaced in its silo, reports Boeing. The interceptor is the ninth total interceptor to be put into a silo; an additional two are at Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California.
This emplacement is the first since November of 2004, when the sixth interceptor was put into a silo at Greely. Some ten interceptors were scheduled to be deployed in 2005, which when added to the existing eight would amount to eighteen in the ground (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Deployment
» Missile system details for: Fort Greely, Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
Japan May Deploy PAC-3 in March 2006
July 23, 2005 :: Reuters :: News
Japan may begin deploying its Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) surface-to-air missiles as early as March 2006 to counter the current threat from nearby ballistic missiles, whether from North Korea or China. The original plan was to begin the deployment in late FY 2006-2007—ending in March 2007. The Japanese daily Yomiuri Shimbun, however, recently cited government sources indicating that Tokyo is considering a sooner deployment due to the increasing missile threat from North Korea and China. The report comes one day after the Japanese parliament approved legislation that would allow a swifter response to ballistic missile attacks. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Deployment, Japan
» Missile system details for: Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3)
Pacific Fleet Commander: Aegis Ready
April 14, 2005 :: San Diego Union Tribune :: News
In an interview for the San Diego Union-Tribune, Navy Admiral Walter F. Doran, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, described that the Aegis ships equipped with ballistic defenses are prepared for “limited defense operations.”
Q: What is the Navy’s role in ballistic missile defense with the Aegis system?
A: We are ready right now, the United States Navy in the Western Pacific, again 7th Fleet units, are ready for limited defense operations in the Western Pacific if we were required to do it. The sea-based ballistic missile defense is very much a real player. In fact, if you look back we have had very successful (interception) shots with the SM3 missile at the Pacific Missile Range.
Admiral Doran also answered questions about such things as China’s modernizing military and the North Korean threat. (More »»»)
» More stories on: Deployment, Sea-Based Systems
» Missile system details for: Aegis Ship-Based BMD
General Holly: System Could Stop North Korean Attack Today
March 15, 2005 :: News
Major General John Holly, who heads the ground based midcourse defense program for the Missile Defense Agency, commented in remarks to Alaska lawmakers today that the missile defense system deployed in Alaska and California could, if so directed, provide a limited defense against a limited attack from a country such as North Korea. “If directed, we could provide a limited defense against an attack out of Northeast Asia,” he said. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Deployment
» Missile system details for: Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
Defense Tester: Limited Defense Exists
January 19, 2005 :: Bloomberg :: News
The Pentagon’s chief weapons tester, Thomas Christie, has submitted a report to Congress which declares that a limited capability exists to defend against ballistic missile attacks. Christie is the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation. “The architecture is now in place and should have some limited capability to defend against a threat missile from North Korea,” Christie is quoted as saying. While much testing remains to be done, his report indicated that some ground testing has “improved our confidence that military operators could exploit any inherent capability that may exist in the testbed, if needed in an emergency.”
The text of Christie’s report is available via Inside Defense. (Article, Link)
» Text of report, via Inside Defense
» More stories on: Deployment
Rumsfeld on Deployment Plans
December 27, 2004 :: News
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently held a press conference in which he discussed how the missile defense system would likely be deployed.
Rumsfeld said that we would soon we have “a very modest capability,” and adding that “I don’t know that that’s not true today. I’m not announcing it, but if you, for example, said that there was some reason to—that there was some threat that was evolving and it would be desirable to go out of a test mode and see the extent to which you could be in an operational mode, my impression is it wouldn’t take long to get there.”
Of additional interest is Rumsfeld’s final comment that at the present time, the administration does not see an urgent threat, and so are not “pressured” to begin deployment soon.
Rumsfeld also noted that there might not be a formal announcement, or that it might be very low-key: “And I can’t answer your question as to when or if we would have an announcement, but I would guess that the announcement would be very much like what I just said; that we are proceeding, that we have interceptors in the ground, and that each month and each quarter and each year, additional pieces of it will evolve and be added.” (More »»»)
» Dec. 22: DoD transcript of Rumsfeld press conference
» More stories on: Deployment
The Time to Deploy is Now
December 17, 2004 :: News
Today is the second anniversary of President Bush’s announcement that the United States would be deploying missile defenses by the end of 2004. One day earlier, on December 16, the president signed National Security Presidential Directive-23, directing the deployment of missile defenses “in 2004.” That directive renewed Bush’s 2000 campaign pledge to do the same.
For many months now, the head of the Missile Defense Agency had suggested that the deployment would take place by the first of October, 2004. For various reasons that did not take place, and both deployment and the test of the interceptor were put off and delayed. Integrated Flight Test-13C was attempted earlier this week, but did not take place, the interceptor remaining in its silo due to an unknown “anomaly.”
Today, Rachel D’Oro of the Associated Press writes that actual deployment may be delayed still further, into 2005. Given the unsuccessful completion of IFT-13C, there is likely also political pressure to delay further. But the administration should instead renew its commitments of the past, and actively deploy the system as soon as possible. (Link)
» Dec. 17, 2004: AP: Operational deployment may be delayed into 2005
» Dec. 17, 2002: Bush pledges to deploy
» Text of Dec. 16, 2002 NSPD-23, directing the deployment of missile defenses
» More stories on: Deployment
Third Anniversary of ABM Treaty Withdrawal Notice
December 13, 2004 :: News
On December 13, 2001, President Bush gave formal notice to Russia that the U.S. would be withdrawing from the 1972 ABM Treaty. Six months later, on June 13, 2002, the United States officially withdrew, as provided by the treaty itself.
Today, three years after notice was given, the first elements of a system have been put into place for what should, someday, come to provide a truly national and strategic defense. Six interceptors are in silos in Alaska and, as of Friday, one at Vandenberg AFB here in California. Although Bill Gertz indicated in yesterday’s Washington Times that the system had formally been operationally deployed, this is not yet the case. In the coming weeks, however, one may expect such an announcement to take place, as well as another test of the system (Integrated Flight Test-13C, or IFT-13C), the first such test in two years. (Link)
» More stories on: ABM Treaty, Deployment
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