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PAC-3 Contract

Lockheed Martin reports the completion of a contract for the first international sales of the PAC-3 Patriot missile interceptors. The contract is to build 156 PAC-3 missiles and spare parts for the United States Army, The Netherlands, and Japan, and is worth $532 million dollars. Lockheed will deliver to The Netherlands some 32 interceptors, and Japan 16, by 2006. The sale of units of 16 is due to the fact that 16 interceptors load onto a single launcher. The older version, the PAC-2, carried only four missiles per launcher. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Policy

» Missile system details for: Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3)

Report: North Korea Purchased Nuclear Weapon

Reuters reports that North Korea may have purchased a complete nuclear weapon from either Pakistan or a former Soviet Union state, citing Washington and South Korean sources. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: North Korea, Nuclear Weapons

Iskander Deployment Update

Itar-Tass provides an update on the scheduled deployment of the first Iskander-M ballistic missiles to the Russian army later this year, quoting First Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Alexander Belousov. Itar-Tass also quotes head of the Russian Armed Forces’ Missile Troops and Artillery Colonel General Vladimir Zaritsky as specifying that that the first squad of Iskanders will be formed in the North Caucasian military district, and “Next year we will start re-equipment of missile brigades stationed in the Far East and the Siberian military district, in compliance with the armament program and the development concept.”
        The Iskander short range ballistic missile has also been in the news for Russia’s reported plans to sell a version of the missile, the Iskander-E, to Syria, a state sponsor of terrorism. The Iskander has been characterized as a next-generation Scud, which the Soviet Union and Russia widely proliferated the world over, and as a replacement to the “SS-21 Tochka,” with much more advanced guidance and perhaps even the capabilities to avoid theatre ballistic missile defenses, such as the Patriot. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Russia

» Missile details: SS-26

Russia to Deploy S-400 Missile Defenses

Russian news agencies have widely reported that Russia will begun to upgrade its missile defenses in 2005, as expected, replacing older systems with the newer and widely touted S-400 interceptors. Interfax and Itar-Tass quoted deputy defense minister Belousov as saying that the military would purchase six S-400 systems this year, but did not specify the price, or where they would be deployed. Russia has previously indicated that the S-400 may be offered for export.
        RIA Novosti notes that, in addition, Russia’s navy will add two new strategic nuclear submarines, the Yury Dolgoruky and the Dmitry Donskoy, each armed with Russia’s most advanced submarine launched ballistic missile, the Bulava SS-N-30. Belousov added that, “Allegations that all our technology is outdated do not hold water. The performance of our technology is not inferior to that in any other industrialized country.” Other systems to be added in 2005 include a battalion of new T-90 tanks, two TU-160 strategic bombers, and a host of other systems.  (Article, Link) 

» Defense News description of Russia’s 2005 acquisitions

» RIA Novosti on Belousov report

» More stories on: Russia, Russian Missile Defenses

» Missile details: SS-NX-30

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

Ukraine-Russia Missile Cooperation to Continue

The Russian Interfax military news agency stressed in a January 25 report that strategic ballistic missile cooperation between Russia and Ukraine will continue unabated, despite the recent election of Westward-leaning Yushchenko. Interfax quotes Aleksandr Ryazhskikh, former deputy commander of the Strategic Missile Troops of Russia as saying that such missile cooperation was necessary for Russia’s efforts to extend the combat-ready service life of strategic missiles. Missiles whose service lives are being extended include the SS-18 and SS-19. Ryazhskikh noted that after the fall of the Soviet Union, “Up to 40 per cent of the companies involved in cooperation in producing strategic missiles stayed in Ukraine. It is impossible to do without these companies in extending the guaranteed service life.” Thus, whatever appearances of Western-Ukrainian cooperation, it seems likely that Russia will strongly oppose any significant breakdown of its relations with Ukraine. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Former Soviet Republics, Russia

India Military Parade Displays Missiles

In commemoration of its Republic Day national holiday, India held a military parade in New Delhi. The weaponry displayed included a number of tanks, fighter jets, helicopters, and ballistic and cruise missiles, namely unspecified versions of the Agni, Prithvi, and Brahmos. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: India

Chinese Missile Defenses in Response to Taiwan

As Taiwan begins to deploy some limited missile capabilities in hopes to deter China’s massive short range ballistic missile threat, China is pursuing short-range ballistic missile defenses to negate the Taiwanese response and retain strategic superiority. East-Asia-Intel.com cites a U.S. intelligence official as commenting on Chinese missile defenses. As the report notes, these missile defense systems are based in part on Russian versions which the Chinese continue to purchase, including the S-300V and S-300PMU, which the Chinese test, probably deploy, and reverse-engineer to develop their HQ- series of missiles. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Chinese Missile Defenses, Russian Missile Defenses

» Missile system details for: Hongqi-9 (HQ-9), Hongqi-10 (HQ-10), Hongqi-15 (HQ-15), S-300P (SA-10 Grumble), S-300V (SA-12A Gladiator, SA-12B Giant)

Helprin on the Long Term Threat from China

Claremont Institute Fellow Mark Helprin writes in today’s Wall Street Journal on the problems facing an ambitious democratization effort in Iraq, but also the lack of strategic clarity that the United States seems to have as regards the growing threat from China.

By taking intelligent advantage of the fertile relation between economic development and military capacity, China will be able to leverage its extraordinary growth into superpower parity with the United States. Without the destruction of Chinese social and political equilibrium, this is only a matter of time. And just as we had no policy for dealing with the rise of Germany, Japan, and (prior to the late 1940s) Russia, we have none here.

But with the exception of South Korea, which chafes under our protection and may eventually break from the fold, our major allies in the Pacific are islands, and conveniently in this regard our strengths are the air, the sea, space, and amphibious warfare. We have not since the Korean War been able to face China on the mainland, but if we vigorously augment what we do best, we and our allies—by deterrence and maneuver rather than war—can hold the chain of islands well into the coming century or longer, after which our objective would be to contest the open ocean. China’s objective is to establish a defensive line to the east of the chain, and it is building up its navy accordingly. But we, to prepare for the coming maritime century in the Pacific, are forcing naval strength to its lowest levels since the 1930s.

Uneven and ineffective application of military power, vulnerability to mass terrorism and natural epidemics, blindness to the rise of a great competitor: matters like these, that may seem remote and abstract, are seldom as remote and abstract as they seem. A hundred years ago, our predecessors, unable to sense what had already begun, did not know the price they would pay as the century wore on. But, as the century wore on, that price was exacted without mercy.

 (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: China

Congressmen: Beware of China’s Intentions

A ten-member Congressional delegation returning from a visit to China has words of warning and caution to policymakers at home, quoted in an excellent report by Defense News. Representative Randy Forbes (R-VA), who led the delegation, said that by the end of the trip, “we weren’t sure whether they were going to be our best friend or our worst enemy.” Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN), said that he returned “much more worried than I had been before,” and described China’s rapid acquisition of offensive weapons, as well as the fact that the Chinese seemed to be consumed with the issue of Taiwan.
        Representative Forbes also warned that, “if Taiwan moves toward greater independence, [China] will stop them,” but noted that, “I’m decidedly more hawkish” now than before the trip. Cooper also warned of the significant Chinese arms purchases: “They are busy buying and building the best weapons they can. Money seems to be no object.” Forbes is also quoted by Defense News as adding that China is rapidly building up their navy: “There’s no question our Navy is the best in the world…At some point, sheer numbers start to matter.”  (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: China

Iranian Nuclear Warhead Design

Middle East Newsline reports that the United States intelligence community has obtained Iranian plans which are part of a project to develop a nuclear warhead. The plans reportedly include over 1,000 pages of drawings and documents. The Washington Post reported on these plans on November 19. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Iran, Nuclear Weapons

Dinerman on Need to Divert KEI Funds to Space-Based Interceptors

Taylor Dinerman writes a fine piece for The Space Review on the need for missile defense budget cuts, if they are indeed to come, to be properly managed. If, as reported, the Missile Defense Agency must cut five billion dollars over the next six years, choices have to be made. Dinerman notes that “press reports indicate they have three choices: cut a little here and a little there, hoping to save all of their ongoing programs; cut the Airborne Laser (ABL); or cut the Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI). Sitting outside MDA, the answer is obvious, to wit, kill KEI.”
        Dinerman goes on to recount the difficulties of the KEI design. While boost phase intercept is desirable, doing so with land-based interceptors is quite problematic, since they are very vulnerable to the problem of being in just the right place at just the right time. Dinerman then goes on to support perseverance with the promising sea-based Aegis defenses, as well as the Airborne Laser, but most importantly points to a more fundamental solution yet:

What is needed is to renew work on space-based boost-phase interceptors. The political obstacles are formidable indeed, but the case for Brilliant Pebbles or similar systems is as valid now as it was when the system was canceled by the late Les Aspin with the notorious quip, “I’m going to take the stars out of Star Wars.” Orbiting BPI weapons will not only give the US the capability to shoot down long-range missiles aimed at us but, and more importantly, it could allow the US to smother regional ballistic missile exchanges. Pick your own favorite nuclear missile nightmare scenario, and imagine how it would be changed if both sides found that their rockets were being knocked out of the sky. In a world full of nuclear proliferation, space-based BPI would be the ultimate diplomatic tool.

 (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Space-Based Systems

» Missile system details for: Brilliant Pebbles, Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI)

MDA Report on IFT-13c; New Test Attempt Scheduled

The Missile Defense Agency released a report on the unsuccessful recent attempt to conduct a test of the ground based missile defense system, with the December Integrated Flight Test 13c. A new flight test to repeat IFT-13c is scheduled to take place in either February or March, contingent upon the time needed to prepare a new target missile. The target missile will again be launched from Kodiak Island and the interceptor from Kwajalein in the Pacific. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Testing - American

ABL Flight Tests Continue

Today’s edition of the Aerospace Daily & Defense Report notes that the Airborne Laser aircraft has been test flown a total of six times to date, with the most recent test on January 19. (Link) 

» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL)

U.S.-Australia Talks

A U.S. delegation has recently been sent to Australia to continue talks on missile defense. The talks build upon the July 2004 memorandum of understanding, by which Australia pledged cooperation for the next 25 years. (Article, Link) 

» July 7, 2004: Australia, U.S. sign missile defense pact

» More stories on: Allies, Australia

Defense Tester: Limited Defense Exists

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

Norwegian Rocket Launch Used to Fine-Tune Radars

Citing the Russian Defense Ministry, Itar-Tass recently cited Lieutenant-General Anatoliy Sokolov as saying that Norwegian rocket launches scheduled for February are intended to “fine-tune” the United States’ Arctic radars located in Greenland and Europe. Before February 10, Norway reportedly plans to launch some 10 weather rockets within view of the U.S. Globus-2 radar. (Link) 

» More stories on: Detection and Tracking

U.S. Sanctions Major Chinese Firms for Proliferation to Iran

Earlier this month, the State Department yet again sanctioned seven Chinese companies for their illicit proliferation of ballistic missile aid to Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism. Sanctions were also applied against one firm based in Taiwan and one in North Korea. The notice in the Federal Register said that the nine were being penalized for transferring to Iran “equipment and technology controlled under multilateral export control lists.”
        As President Bush observed a number of years ago, China is a “strategic competitor” of the United States. It would be well to remember this as we formulate a more aggressive anti-proliferation policies. The real sources of proliferation are Russia and China. It is from these countries that Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea received the vast amount of missile technology and equipment. As the New York Times notes, the most recent round of sanctions will probably have little effect on any of these companies’ financial well being. And the companies’ ties to the Chinese government and military make such financial sanctions even less dubious of success. At some level, a policy decision to proliferate such technologies to these regimes has been made. Unless the Chinese government changes that policy, or unless we are willing to boldly identify it and employ more serious sanctions, we must resign ourselves to the inevitability of such proliferation.  (Link) 

» August 30, 2004: Photographs suggest changes to Shahab reentry device

» January 18, 2005: China says sanctions “not wise”

» September 27, 2004: Seven Chinese companies sanctioned

» November 18, 2004: Powell claims Iran modifying Shahabs to carry nuclear warhead

» More stories on: China, Iran, North Korea, Proliferation

Analysis of Pentagon “Semantics”

Pamela Hass of United Press International writes on the Pentagon’s “semantics” of the past several months as regards formal deployment of the ballistic missile defense system. Hass correctly notes that for many months prior to September 2004, both the administration and the Missile Defense Agency indicated that some initial capabilities would be operational in 2004, and possibly by October of 2004. What appear to have been a number of delays have been followed upon by some level of ambiguity as to whether, if at all, the missile defense system would be fully operational, there being no formal declaration of its deployment, and in fact indications from both Secretary Rumsfeld and MDA head General Obering in the past month have been that there may never be a formal declaration. The most recent pronouncements have been that there currently exists some very limited capability to defend against ballistic missiles. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Analysis, Policy

SBIRS Profiled

The Space Based Infrared System High program, critical to detecting and tracking ballistic missile launches for any interception attempt, is profiled by Defense News.
        The SBIRS High program will consist of four satellites, placed at geostationary orbits, monitoring the surface for heat indicative of explosions or a missile launch. The program has faced considerable delays, funding problems, and opposition, but the first satellite is scheduled for launch in 2007. The SBIRS program is said to be 60% faster and twice as accurate as the existing Defense Support Program satellites, of which there are 22, currently in operation, and will serve a broader number of purposes.  (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Space-Based Systems, Detection and Tracking

» Missile system details for: Space-Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High)

Russia Backpedals Missile Proliferation to Syria, Hezbollah

The Russian newspaper Kommersant recently reported of Russian plans to sell a number of missile systems to Syria, a state sponsor of terrorism and in particular Hezbollah. These included the shoulder-fired SS-18 Igla anti-aircraft missiles, but also and more significantly, eighteen of Russia’s new and made-for-export SS-26 Iskander missile, and the S-300PMU-2 (SA-10) air and missile defense system, similar to that which rings Moscow, and other systems. The S-300PMU-2 system is one of Moscow’s most developed air and missile defense systems. The SS-26 has increasingly made the news for its touted capabilities to evade other air-defenses—possibly the U.S. Patriot interceptors—and the Russian’s plans to market it widely, including in the middle east. The export version of the SS-26 Iskander missile has a reported range of 280 km, sufficient for Syria to strike nearly all of Israel.
        At this time, negative publicity may be sufficient reason for Russia to back out of the missile deal, but it nevertheless serves as yet another example of Russia’s long track record of being willing to proliferate missiles and missile technology throughout the world. (More »»») 

» January 12: Original report of planned missile sales by Russian newspaper Kommersant

» January 13: Ivanov denies plans to proliferate Iskanders to Syria

» January 12: Interfax: Colonel Vladimir Anokhin defends missile sales to Syria

» More stories on: Proliferation, Russia, Syria, Terrorism

» Missile details: SS-26

» Missile system details for: S-300P (SA-10 Grumble)

Minor Software Glitch Responsible for Shutdown; Five Tests of System in 2005

The head of the Missile Defense Agency, Lt. General Henry Obering, yesterday explained that the December 15 failed attempt to test the ground based interceptor was due to a “very minor software glitch,” which can easily be remedied, according to Defense News. The glitch was said to be a “gap in the flow of electronic messages between the flight computer and the interceptor’s thrust vector controller.”
        As to the actual, formal deployment of the Alaska-California based system, Obering largely repeated the remarks of Secretary Rumsfeld on December 22, that it may not be anytime soon, and that it may be made operational without “formal” announcement:

“I cannot tell you there is going to be a date certain when we will to declare anything. I can tell you we do have a capability that is out there. We continue in the process of improving it, and we continue in the process of exercising with it … and we will continue in that mode.”

        Some five flight tests of the system are scheduled for 2005, including at least two attempted intercepts. Obering is also quoted as saying that the Pentagon may repeat the test, IFT-13c, as early as mid-February. The next test, IFT-14, is slated for March or April. (Article, Link) 

» Reuters on Obering explanation

» More stories on: Testing - American

» Missile system details for: Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)

Ivanov Hints at BMD Cooperation

During a wide ranging press interview in Washington yesterday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov mentioned that Russia still holds out a prospect for missile defense cooperation with the United States, according to the Interfax news agency. “It is theoretically possible to cooperate in the missile defence area on a bilateral basis. This work is continuing, and I am not in a position to say when it could be completed,” Ivanov said.
        Ivanov also took the opportunity to remind Americans that while Russia was not increasing the quantity of its nuclear warheads, it was upgrading the quality of its ballistic missile systems, including the Bulava submarine based missile, by name. “We have begun testing the Bulava missiles this year, and we are also conducting research to create even more perfect systems” said Ivanov, adding, “Thank God, engineers capable of creating such weapons have not yet become extinct in Russia.”  (Article, Link) 

» Ivanov says no increase in nuclear numbers

» More stories on: Russian Missile Defenses

Israeli Official Calls for Space-Based Defenses

Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Israel’s Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, recently called for his nation to expand its sea and space-based defenses against a number of forms of attack, reports Defense News. At a December 22 symposium, he urged in particular anti-satellite missiles, satellite-attacking lasers, and ship-based missiles. Israel’s “lack of ground territory—and our obligation to defend the homeland from attack—drives the need to develop a strategic envelope of air, sea and space forces not only for defense, but for attack.”
        Steinitz’s proposals will not be well received by those arms controllers theologically opposed to the weaponization of space, but are in fact quite well founded. The importance of space in warfare has already been seen in the use of GPS and other satellite assets. In a war with another space-capable power, such as China, anti-satellite weapons would, it is plausible, be widely used on both sides. The defense of our assets in space is a simple necessity, and the basing of missile defense interceptors in space is simply essential to any effective strategic missile defense. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: High Energy Defenses, Israel, Space-Based Systems

South Korea Develops Electronic Missile Jamming

The South Korean Defense Ministry reported on January 9th that it had developed an electronic jamming system which could be used against aircraft and missiles. The system described as “ALQ-X” is said to produce a large output of disturbance electronic waves, and is said to be mounted on South Korean KF-16 and F-4 fighter aircraft as well as transport planes. The system, apparently imported from the United States, will be deployable in the second half of 2005.
        The report is somewhat unclear about whether or not such a system would be effective against North Korean surface to surface ballistic missiles, or if it would only be useful at short ranges against air-to-air or ground-to-air launches. (Article, Link) 

» January 12, 2005: East Asia Intel on South Korean jamming device

» More stories on: High Energy Defenses, South Korea

L.A. Businessman Charged with Aiding Iranian Missile Program

An Iranian-born American businessman has been charged with smuggling equipment to Iran to aid in their ballistic missile programs, according to a report by Newsday. Mohammad Farahbakhsh of Los Angeles has been charged with sending “pressure sensors and other equipment from Stamford to the United Arab Emirates, where they were to be shipped to Iran,” specifically to a company, the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which has previously been sanctioned twice by the U.S. government for aiding Iranian missile development. Farahbakhsh is reportedly a so-called “dual citizen” in both Iran and the United States. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Iran, Proliferation

Gaffney on the Administration’s Kerry-like Defense Cuts

President of the Center for Security Policy Frank Gaffney writes in today’s Washington Times on the 55 billion dollars in proposed cuts which are said to be planned for the upcoming defense budget. Gaffney aptly notes, with much justification, that lesser cuts would have been expected from a Kerry presidency, but are quite a surprise coming from the Bush administration:

Actually, a President-elect Kerry probably would not have dared suggest the far-reaching cuts Mr. Bush plans. And he surely would faced difficulty getting them enacted, given pervasive concerns about his judgment on national security. Yet, here we have the spectacle of $55 billion in extensive defense reductions being made by the man who beat Mr. Kerry—largely on the basis of precisely those concerns.

Gaffney goes on to observe that John Kerry had particularly promised to slash missile defense funding, and that the proposed cuts to the missile defense budget are probably not all that dissimilar from what a Kerry administration might have implemented.

Nowhere is it likelier that John Kerry would have cut back Pentagon spending than in the portfolio of the Missile Defense Agency. Yet, here too, President Bush is said to be considering $5 billion in reductions over the next five years. These could essentially eliminate the most promising means of performing boost-phase missile intercepts (namely, using an airborne laser and/or from space); preclude building out the initial, very modest deployment of ground-based interceptors; and sharply curtail sea-based anti-missile defenses. So much for the robust, layered missile defense Mr. Bush promised to put in place.

        One may, incidentally, find a sampling of Kerry’s promises to cut missile defense on his website, JohnKerry.com. (Article, Link) 

» June 3, 2004: Hackett on proposed defense cuts

» Kerry criticizes Rice plan to deliver speech on missile defense on 9-11

» Kerry pledges to reduce missile defense expenditures

» Kerry pledges to delay deployment of missile defenses

» More stories on: Analysis, Budget, Policy

Canada Expected to Join BMD

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci recently remarked that he expects Canada to join America’s missile defense effort, and that they are likely do so before the end of March. “We’ve been told that it will be dealt with over the next couple of months,” said Cellucci. Even if not pursued aggressively or with the real seriousness it deserves, one may at least say that ballistic missile defense has been successfully established as a multinational cooperative effort. This successful diplomatic strategy has made the issue less controversial worldwide, but must yet be followed up by actual deployment of the defenses required. This has not yet taken place. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Allies, Canada

Budget Cuts Document

The Navy Times acquired the text of the recently released Program Budget Decision 753, which recommends cutting the missile defense budget by one billion dollars in the coming fiscal year, and 800 million each subsequent year. Such cuts would have to be approved by Congress, but if implemented they could pose a significant blow to deploying a serious missile defense anytime in the near future. (Article, Link) 

» Program Budget Decision 753, concerning BMD budget cuts (.pdf)

» More stories on: Budget, Policy

Land-Based Test of Aegis SM-3 Interceptors

The Missile Defense Agency yesterday announced a recent successful test of the maneuvering system for the Standard Missile 3 which will be used to intercept missiles as part of the Aegis sea-based defenses. The test of the actual kinetic warhead which would intercept an enemy missile was completed on November 30, 2004. The test is described by the MDA and by Lockheed Martin as an important milestone in the interceptor’s development. (Article, Link) 

» MDA release on SM-3 test

» Missile system details for: Aegis Ship-Based BMD

Russian Plans to Counter U.S. BMD

Although Russian strategic forces are amply equipped to overcome or overwhelm the ballistic missile defenses currently being considered, though not yet deployed by the United States, Russia is still quite serious about staying abreast of any and all means it could devise to retain a strategic advantage over the United States. Citing a report in Moscow’s Trud newspaper, dated December 22, the American Foreign Policy Council describes the work of Major-General Vladimir Belous, a scientific associate of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and his proposals for additional neutralization of any missile defenses. These include upgrading Russian offensive forces to avoid or confuse interceptors, “new methods” including decoy missiles to overwhelm interceptors, and even offensively targeting U.S. missile defense facilities. Belous is quoted as saying, however, that these are only the beginning: “[T]he mission of countering the [American] missile defense system opens up a broad creative expanse for Russian designers.” (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Russia

Japan Considering Laser Interceptor Cooperation

Japan, which has been ambitiously moving towards a number of missile defense programs, is also considering cooperation with the U.S. on the issue of laser missile interception, reports the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper. The U.S. has reportedly suggested such cooperation to Japan unofficially, which could include the airborne laser program. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: High Energy Defenses, Japan

» Missile system details for: Airborne Laser (ABL)

Iran General Claims Nuclear Capability

One of Iran’s generals stated on December 28 that Iran has nuclear capability and threatened to use them against the United States if it is attacked, according to a news report by Geostrategy-Direct.
        General Qassem Shabani said during a speech at Qom University, that “At present we have manufactured some weapons and acquired nuclear capabilities…In the event of war against America, we must resort to asymmetrical battles.” (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Iran, Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear Tipped Interceptor Proposal Rebuffed

The January 6 edition of Inside the Pentagon cites sources reporting that the Army Space and Missile Defense Command is revising a draft request for proposals which had originally expressed interest in nuclear-tipped interceptors for the purpose of ballistic missile defense. Inside Defense reports that defense officials have already removed the language. The language apparently referred to both possible directed energy and small nuclear warheads, but it was congressional opposition to the latter which apparently prompted the removal.
        One might object to the use of nuclear tipped interceptors on the grounds that they are not necessary, and that effective technologies are possible with hit to kill, kinetic interceptors. In the absence of energetic support for even that program, however, nuclear tipped interceptors are certainly plausible as a last resort. Both Soviet-Russian missile defenses around Moscow and the short-lived U.S. missile interceptors based at Grand Forks, North Dakota in 1975, employed small (or, in the case of Russia, large) nuclear warheads which would obliterate any incoming missiles or warheads, regardless of any countermeasures. A nuclear explosion in space is not desirable, but it is better than one taking place on the ground. (Link) 

» More stories on: Nuclear Weapons, Policy

Chinese Nuclear Weapon Plans in Libya Investigated

U.S. Intelligence is asking Pakistan to kindly convey written questions to the now infamous proliferator A. Q. Khan about how Libya managed to acquire a surprising level of nuclear and other missile capability, reports Geostrategy-Direct. The existence of such plans was previously reported in July of 2004. Of particular concern are how Chinese-language documents for the design for a nuclear warhead to be fitted on a missile, came to be found in Libya. Pakistan which has pardoned Khan, will also not permit U.S. officials to question him directly. Pakistan is said to be a friend of the United States in the war on terror and anti-proliferation efforts.
        This latest incident only confirms that Pakistan is but an intermediary for the larger proliferation by China and Russia. It is no secret, after all, that Pakistan’s missile and nuclear programs were both heavily aided by China. U.S. Intelligence should probably not expect Pakistan to be too forthcoming with incriminating evidence. Perhaps the United States should rather ask China. (Article, Link) 

» July 22, 2004: Libya had Chinese nuclear weapon blueprints, materials to build

» More stories on: China, Libya, Pakistan, Proliferation

Interceptor May be Returned to U.S. for Testing

The ground based interceptor which did not launch in the December 15 attempt at a test of the missile defense system will likely be shipped back to the U.S. from the Kwajalein missile range, according to the January 3 edition of Aviation Week & Space Technology, although no plans are yet in place to do so. After a target missile had been fired, the interceptor’s computer detected a fault which initiated an automatic shutdown.
        The January 5 edition of the Aerospace Daily & Defense Report notes that the Missile Defense agency is near to determining the problem described thus far only as an “unknown anomaly.” MDA spokesman Rick Lehner was quoted as saying that “we expect to have some information within the next week or two.”
        Update: The January 17 edition of Aviation Week and Space Technology reports that the interceptor will be fixed at Kwajalein, thereby eliminating the need to return it to the U.S (Link) 

» More stories on: Testing - American

» Missile system details for: Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI), Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD)

Hackett on Proposed BMD Budget Cuts

James T. Hackett writes in today’s Washington Times noting that budget cuts should be applied to the area of missile defense only if necessary, and then only very carefully. Hackett’s piece comes a few days after reports that a proposed budget would include 1 billion cut from missile defense in the coming year, and 800 billion in subsequent years. Hackett notes that cuts may be necessary, but warns that “the trick is to cut fat while avoiding high-priority programs.” Specifically, this means cutting the “ill conceived” Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI), which is impractical for its strict need to be in the right place at the right time, namely “very close to hostile missiles on foreign soil.” Cutting this program will free funds for the more pressing deployment already begun, that of the ground based interceptors to be placed in Alaska and Hawaii.
        One might add to this that other, still more effective, interceptors should also be pursued, but the KEI should certainly stands to be the first to go.  (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Analysis, Budget