Karako Participates in FrontPage Missile Defense Dialogue
August 30, 2006 :: FrontPage Magazine :: Analysis
Thomas Karako, director of programs at the Claremont Instiute and editor of Missilethreat.com, recently took part in an online dialogue on missile defense organized by FrontPage Magazine. Karako was joined by Ilan Berman, vice president for policy of the Washington-based American Foreign Policy Council, Jed Babbin, the former deputy undersecretary of defense in the first Bush administration, and Austin Bay, an author and syndicated newspaper columnist. The dialogue concentrated on the current ballistic missile threats facing the U.S., and how to most effectively combat them. (Article, Link)
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MDA Speeds Up THAAD Deployment
August 30, 2006 :: UPI :: News
The Missile Defense Agency plans to speed up testing and deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, reports the UPI. THAAD is a ground-based missile defense system designed to protect forward-deployed troops and population centers from short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. It uses a hit-to-kill, kinetic-energy warhead to intercept missiles during their final phase of flight, either outside the atmosphere or very high up in the atmosphere. Under the MDA’s previous schedule, THAAD would not have been deployable worldwide until fiscal year 2012. Yet according to Army Colonel Charles Driessnack, MDA’s project manager, MDA now plans to run testing activities concurrently in order to eliminate two years from the program and place THAAD in the field at the end of FY 2009 or in early FY 2010. The new timetable is a likely reflection of recent tests successes. This past June, THAAD successfully intercepted a non-separating unitary Hera target, demonstrating its ability to characterize a ballistic missile target in the high-endoatmosphere and destroy it. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
Pentagon May Delay SBIRS to Trim Budget
August 30, 2006 :: MarketWatch :: News
The Pentagon may delay deployment of the third geosynchronous satellite for the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) program due to budget constraints. SBIRS is intended as a constellation of high-orbiting infrared satellites designed to detect and track ballistic missiles of all sizes. It would include three large satellites that would circle the earth in high geosynchronous orbit, looking for missile launches and other threats. Each satellite would cover about a third of the earth’s surface, with additional help from two smaller polar-orbiting satellites and ground systems. In addition to their primary mission of detecting missile launches, the SBIRS satellites would also have sensors to track moving targets and perform a range of other duties for intelligence analysts and battlefield commanders. SBIRS would replace the aging Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites, which have provided early missile warning information for over 30 years.
Despite the program’s necessity, SBIRS is now considered a “prime target” as the Pentagon assembles its budget proposal for fiscal year 2008. To make room for more fighters and tankers, the U.S. Air Force may be forced to postpone purchasing the third SBIRS satellite. If the Air Force delays the third SBIRS satellite, it could potentially eliminate about $320 million from its FY 2008 plans and postpone about $1.3 billion in near-term follow-on funding, says defense analyst Jim McAleese of McAleese and Associates, a Washington-area government contracting law firm. Baseline SBIRS research funding on $700 million would probably continue, but purchases and deployments would be postponed, perhaps indefinitely. “The war on terror has significantly changed this administration’s focus on space. The levels of space funding growth that we initially anticipated at the beginning of Donald Rumsfeld’s tenure are not achievable,” McAleese said. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Space-Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High)
Rumsfeld Cautions on Missile Shield
August 27, 2006 :: AP :: News
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld today sounded a note of caution about expectations that ground-based interceptors would work in the event of a missile attack by North Korea, reports the AP. Speaking at a news conference after his visit to the underground silos in Fort Greely, Alaska, Rumsfeld said he would not be fully persuaded until the system has undergone more complete and realistic testing. “I want to see it happen,” he said. “A full end-to-end” demonstration is needed “where we actually put all the pieces” of the highly complex and far-flung missile defense system together and see whether it would succeed in destroying a warhead in flight. “That just hasn’t happened,” he said, adding that some elements of the missile defense system are yet to come on line, including some of the radars and sensors used to track the target missile. Rumsfeld declined to say when he thought the missile defense system would reach the point of full reliability, but stressed that his advisers have told him they believe it will work as designed in the event of an actual missile attack. “I have a lot of confidence in these folks, and I have a lot of confidence in the work that’s been done,” he said. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Fort Greely, Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)
WSJ Interviews Obering, Discusses Space-Based Defenses
August 26, 2006 :: The Wall Street Journal :: News
The Wall Street Journal today interviewed Lieutenant General Henry “Trey” Obering III, director of the Missile Defense Agency. Gen. Obering discussed the current and future capabilities of the U.S. missile defense system, in particular the role of space-based interceptors which he termed “very attractive.” When asked to respond to the “weaponization of space” argument, he noted that “we already do intercepts in space, because that’s where the missiles fly … What we’re talking about is having space-based interceptors that would engage from space.” Gen. Obering also said that he favors deploying more sophisticated sensors in space. “If someone had told me 15 or 20 years ago that we’d be fighting in Afghanistan, I wouldn’t have believed them. We don’t know where we’re going to be fighting in the next 20 years … and so instead of populating radars around the world to try to guess where those threats are going to be coming from, it makes a lot of sense to go to space … We have sensors in space but they are not sensors that you can accurately track from.” (More »»»)
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U.S. to Classify Strategic Weapons Data from Cold War
August 21, 2006 :: Washington Post :: News
The U.S. has begun to classify data on strategic weapons during the Cold War, reports The Washington Post. According to a new report by the National Security Archive, a nonprofit research library at George Washington University, the Pentagon and the Department of Energy have designated the historical totals of Minuteman, Titan-2, and other missiles as national security secrets, and are blacking out the information on previously public documents. Other information that will be classified includes the number of missile launchers and the number of heavy bombers that existed during the Cold War. The Archive says that the Pentagon has been using guidelines developed by the Department of Energy in choosing which data to black out. (Article, Link)
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» Missile details: Minuteman I, V-2
U.S. Air Force Completes Minuteman-3 Study
August 15, 2006 :: Jane's Information Group :: News
The U.S. Air Force has completed an Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) study on maintaining and upgrading Minuteman-3 intercontinental ballistic missiles, reports the September 1 issue of Jane’s Missiles and Rockets. Although the two-year study has not been made public, it reportedly states that a force of 450 Minuteman-3 ICBMs would probably be sustainable beyond 2020 if the missiles were properly maintained and continuously upgraded. Such a system would reduce the necessity for the development of new ICBM systems in the near term. The AoA study is also believed to recommend retrofitting the Minuteman-3 missiles with the improved NS-50 inertial system to improve their accuracy. (Link)
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» Missile details: Minuteman I
Obering to Recommend U.S. European Site Within “Months”
August 15, 2006 :: AFP :: News
Lieutenant General Henry “Trey” Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency, announced today that he expects to make his recommendation within months for the location of a U.S. missile defense site in Europe. Speaking in Huntsville, Alabama, Obering emphasized that the site would protect the U.S. and Europe against the threat of a long-range missile attack from Iran. He added that other factors would also be considered, such as soil conditions for missile silos, existing infrastructure to support the installations, and possible future sites for X-band radars. Obering did not specify exactly when he planned to make his recommendation, but noted that MDA planned to deploy 10 interceptor missiles in Europe by 2011. (Article, Link)
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GOP Criticizes Democrats on Missile Defense
August 12, 2006 :: UPI :: News
As the midterm elections approach, Republicans are looking to ballistic missile defense as a major campaign issue. Polls have shown that the American public overwhelmingly supports missile defense, even more so given North Korea’s recent tests launches and Iran’s drive to acquire nuclear weapons. The Democrats, having attempted to block deployments under President Bush, are vulnerable on the issue. On Thursday, August 10, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman circulated a paper attacking the Democratic voting record. “During the Bush administration, Democrats have voted against missile defense at least nine times,” the paper states. “When Democrats were in control of Congress they cut billions from missile defense.” The paper lists all the votes, by name and number, and adds that “Democrats would have [left] us helpless against North Korea’s missiles,” a reference to North Korea’s test launch of seven ballistic missiles on July 4, one of which was the long-range Taep’o-dong 2. (Article, Link)
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MDAA Calls for 10 More Interceptors for Vandeberg AFB
August 10, 2006 :: MDAA :: News
The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) has called for the deployment of 10 additional ground-based interceptors at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, to protect the West Coast from a possible North Korean ballistic missile attack. The U.S. already has two ground-based interceptors at Vandenberg AFB, as well as nine at Fort Greely in Alaska. MDAA also advocated for the deployment of an Aegis-equipped cruiser armed with Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) interceptors in the waters off Hawaii, and the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system at the Barking Sand Naval Base in Kauai, Hawaii. To defend against the missile threat from Iran, the alliance called for the development of a third interceptor site in Europe, and the deployment of Aegis-equipped cruisers in the Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, and Persian Gulf. The alliance added that the U.S. must continue to develop and invest in future missile defense assets, in particular systems capable of destroying missiles in their boost phase. (Article, Link)
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» Missile system details for: Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD), Vandenberg Air Force Base
