May 25, 2004 :: News
Leading a congressional delegation in Moscow, Representative Curt Weldon today called for further technical cooperation with Russia in the development of missile defenses, repeating a message made days before by former Sec. of Defense William Cohen.
Weldon praised the joint Russian-American Observation Satellite program (RAMOS), begun under George H. W. Bush, designed to permit early detection of missile launches, but called for additional programs more specifically directed at missile defense. Weldon said that projects under consideration range “from the use of Russian radar systems to the potential involvement of Russia in targeting and other aspects of missile defense.” Weldon said that he had suggested to Russia’s military leadership that there be cooperation based on Russian missile defense technology as well.
The Russian ITAR TASS news agency noted that Weldon also spoke of U.S. help for Russia to restore its large ground-based radars previously banned by the ABM Treaty: “Large radars can be restored with US assistance not only outside Krasnoyarsk, where a radar was dismantled, but also in other locations.” ITAR TASS did not mention that the reason the Krasnoyarsk radar was dismantled in the late 1980s was that it was in clear violation of the ABM Treaty. President Reagan had demanded for years that it be dismantled, before the Soviet Union acknowledged it was a violation and did in fact dismantle it.
Weldon said that “the anti-ballistic system could become a joint one,” and that the US should cooperate with Russia’s own blossoming missile defense efforts for the S-400 and S-500 systems, the construction of which Weldon indicated the United States might help fund.
» Weldon’s remarks, from ITAR TASS
» May 21, 2004: Cohen calls for Russia to build US-type BMD
» More stories on: Russia, Russian Missile Defenses
