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Iran Tests Suggest Possible EMP Trials

The May edition of Jane’s Missiles and Rockets reports that recent missile tests by Iran may have been part of the development of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) warhead. Jane’s cites testimony from the Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security from March 8, 2005, by Peter Pry and Lowell Wood. Wood is a member of the Congressional EMP Commission, which released its important report on the EMP threat in July 2004.
        Some of Iran’s tests of its Shahab-3 had been terminated before the completion of their ballistic trajectories, that is, exploding in mid-flight by what appeared to be a self-destruct mechanism. Iran has nevertheless described the tests as fully “successful.” Pry noted that the apparent contradiction would make sense “if Iran were practicing the execution of an EMP attack.” Lowell Wood is quoted as having testified to the subcommittee that such an attack upon the United States could keep off most electrical functions for a time period of a few hours or decades, depending on how it was executed. Wood also warned the subcommittee that such an EMP warhead could be delivered against the United States by “a Scud missile launched from a freighter off the Atlantic coast.”
        Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security, wrote about the EMP threat in the April 15 edition of the Washington Post.
        Joseph Farah from World Net Daily carries a related story today, available online. (Link) 

» July 22, 2004: EMP Commission releases report

» April 15, 2005: Washington Post, Sen. Jon Kyl on the EMP threat

» April 27, 2005: World Net Daily on possible Iran EMP preparations

» Full text of The Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack

» More stories on: Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Weapons, Iran, Ship-Launched Threat, Terrorism

» Missile details: Shahab-6, Small ICBM

1,000 Chinese Missiles Near Taiwan by 2006

An official from Taiwan’s National Security Bureau told the Liberty Times, a sister publication of the Taipei Times, that China is expected to deploy some 200 additional land-attack cruise missiles within striking distance of Taiwan in the coming year, with more to follow in subsequent years. With these and other cruise missiles, and some 600 ballistic missiles, the number of missiles China will have deployed within range of Taiwan will rise to one thousand. China’s deployed land-attack cruise missiles forces are said to include the HN-1A, HN-2A/B, HN-3A, C-301, C-802, and HY-4 missiles. In addition, the official said that China has two types of submarine-launched cruise missiles, the HN-2C and HN-3B, both of which can travel more than 1,200kph. China’s ship-launched cruise missiles include advanced SS-N-22 and CTF-1 type missiles. The SS-N-22 is an advanced supersonic cruise missile, and the CTF-1 can be launched from warships 1,200km away from its target. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: China, Taiwan

Kennedy and Garwin Debate Weaponization of Space

Brian T. Kennedy, President of the Claremont Institute, will debate Richard L. Garwin, IBM Fellow, on the subject of the weaponization of space. The debate will be held 12-1p.m. tomorrow, April 21, at the World Affairs Council in Portland, Oregon. (More »»») 

» More stories on: Space-Based Systems

Ukraine Cooperation in Missile Defense

President George W. Bush and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko agreed “to work together on missile defense,” reports Defense News. The agreement to begin negotiations for industry cooperation is said to have been made during an April 4 meeting in Washington. US and Ukrainian defense officials have been meeting to discuss such cooperation in February and March, and a U.S.-Ukraine missile defense workshop may take place in June, which is said to seek to “capitalize on Ukraine’s long-standing missile expertise and its newer sea-launch capabilities.” (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Allies, Former Soviet Republics

Pacific Fleet Commander: Aegis Ready

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

Russia “Categorically” Against Weapons in Space

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has said that Russia is “categorically against the deployment of weapons in space,” reports Interfax. His remarks come days after a related comment by Missile Defense Agency Director Henry Obering, that the U.S. should consider experimental testing space-based missile defenses.
        Obering had (correctly) noted that “Emerging threats round the world indicate the need for developing a space-based layer of defensive systems.”
        Although Russia has nominally opposed the deployment of American space-based defenses—significant for the capabilities to destroy missiles much earlier in their trajectory—in fact their own policies clearly emphasize the importance of a military presence in space. And Ivanov, even while opposing American deployment, indicated in the same press conference that such a presence remains a priority for Russia. “There are currently about 100 spacecraft in our space military group, and the role of space will only go on increasing,” ITAR-TASS quoted Ivanov as saying. The strategic high ground of space makes it only reasonable that Russia would desire such basing—as well as that the U.S. should pursue space-based defenses.  (Article, Link) 

» Sergei Ivanov emphasizes importance of Russian space presence

» More stories on: Russia, Space-Based Systems

THAAD Program to Receive Boost

Today’s edition of Inside Missile Defense reports on changes that the Missile Defense Agency anticipates for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program, stemming from Congressional budget cuts and problems in the program schedule from 2003. The MDA plans, however, to “ramp up” THAAD by requesting nearly $1 billion in FY-06 for THAAD Blocks 2006 and 2008. A recent Government Accounting Office (GAO) report noted that “Overall, the [THAAD] prime contractor is under budget and ahead of schedule.” (Link) 

» Missile system details for: Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)

Orbital Test Launches Target

The Orbital Sciences Corporation has successfully test launched a new Medium Range Target (MRT) vehicle for the Missile Defense Agency. The test vehicle is the first of a family of flexible targets being developed for MDA that can be launched conventionally from ground sites, air-launched from a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft, or sea-launched from the deck of a retired helicopter carrier.
        This particular test flight originated some 900 miles due west of Kauai, Hawaii. The target was tested in the air-launch mode, being dropped by parachute from a C-17 aircraft before its engines were ignited and it flew a normal ballistic trajectory. The air-launched test, reportedly the first of its kind for a target missile, was designed to replicate trajectories that a hostile state might use in an actual attack; the purpose, therefore, is more realistic testing.  (Article, Link) 

» Orbital press release on test

MDAA Poll: 79% of Americans Favor Missile Defense

The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance recently released polling data conducted by a public opinion research firm, AmericanPublic.US, detailing Americans’ broad support for ballistic missile defense. In a sample of 1,000 registered voters representative of the national population with regard to gender, age, income, education, and region, 79% of Americans overall support a missile defense. By party, the support was 70% Democrats, 70% Independents, and 91% Republicans. A more extensive breakdown of the polling data is available from MDAA’s site. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Analysis, Policy

Radar Upgrades Progressing

The April 11 edition of Aerospace Daily & Defense Report reports on recent testimony by Air Force Lieutenant General Henry “Trey” Obering, director of the Missile Defense Agency, that missile defense related radars have undergone significant upgrades. According to Obering, the Cobra Dane radar at Eareckson Air Station in Alaska is now ready for operational use, and the radar at Beale Air Force Base in California will receive its final software upgrades this spring. An additional radar at the Royal Air Force Base Fylingdales in the United Kingdom will be completed by early 2006. (Link) 

» More stories on: Detection and Tracking

China Upgrading Nuclear Forces

The Washington Post reports on China’s upgrades to its nuclear forces, which it finances with a growing military budget, kept at a high percentage of its GDP. Improvements have been and are being made to its nuclear submarines, its intercontinental missile forces (such as the DF-31, the JL-2, and the DF-41): (More »»») 

» More stories on: China

U.S.-Russia Joint BMD Exercises Underway in Moscow

Between April 12 and April 23, joint short-range or theater ballistic missile defense exercises are taking place in Moscow, part of a collaborative effort between NATO and Russia. This exercise is the fourth in a continuing series.
        Itar Tass quotes Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying, “the aim of these exercises is to create an efficient system of antimissile defense on the territory of ‘greater Europe’, which would cover all critical facilities and missile-prone routes.” Ivanov added that the exercises would continue. The 4th Central Research Institute of the Ministry in Moscow is hosting the joint theater-wide command-post exercise (CPX). “The exercise is focused on crafting co-ordination techniques for use by non-strategic air defense and ballistic missile defense units in providing BMD coverage of a third country during a coalition operation under the aegis of international organizations,” according to a release by the Russian Defense Ministry. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Russian Missile Defenses

Obering: Time May be Right for Experiments With Space-Based Defenses

“Emerging threats round the world indicate the need for developing a space-based layer” of defensive systems, said Missile Defense Agency Director Lieutenant General Henry Obering yesterday at the 3rd Annual Missile Defense Conference in Washington, reports Defense News. The MDA, Obering said, would like to “maintain options for a space-based test bed” to begin experiments by fiscal year 2007. “There is a lot of attraction to space-based interceptors.”
        Obering noted, however, the ideological opposition which such tests will likely provoke: the subject is fraught with “a lot of emotionalism and religious argument” associated with weaponizing space.”
        The Aerospace Daily & Defense Report reported on April 12 that the MDA currently plans to award one-year concept design contracts to two to four industry teams in FY 2008, and that in FY 2009, one or more teams would be picked for a development and test phase that would extend to FY 2015 and include several space-based intercept tests, with a decision on whether to build a constellation of some 50 to 100 satellites possibly taking place 2014-2015. The MDA is not even seeking money for the project, however, until FY 2008, with some $45 million.
        Speaking also of the Space Tracking Surveillance System (STSS) satellite system, Obering expressed, “I believe this is critical, by the way, to the future of the missile defense program…I believe we have to get to space as it relates to our sensing capability because we don’t know where the threat is going to be emerging from so we have to be able to provide global coverage and this is the only way to do it really, is from space.”
        MDA is also reportedly planning to begin the Near Field InfraRed Experiment (NFIRE) in FY2007, an experimental satellite that would collect data on ballistic missile plumes. (Article, Link) 

» More stories on: Space-Based Systems

» Missile system details for: Near Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE), Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS)

U.S. Offers PAC-2 to India

The United States has offered India the Patriot PAC-II missile defense system, reports the Press Trust of India. The offer comes as part of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s announcement of a closer strategic partnership with India. (Link) 

» More stories on: India

» Missile system details for: Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2)

Profile of Russian S-300 System

Russian television, in a report on Russian Channel One TV on April 10, carried a profile of the Russian Air Defenses coinciding with the thirtieth annual “Day of Air Defence Troops” commemoration. The profile looks in particular at the radar and interceptor systems for the S-300, and other interceptors around Moscow. (More »»») 

» More stories on: Russian Missile Defenses

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

Possible Space Interceptors

Inside the Pentagon reports on April 7 that the Bush administration is considering the deployment of a limited constellation of space-based kinetic energy interceptors to protect the United States. Plans for such an initial capability, at the cost of some $673 million, are reportedly included in a set of Missile Defense Agency long-term budgetary assessments recently made public. The projects call for a limited capability of 50-100 satellites for a “thin boost/ascent defense against intercontinental range ballistic missiles.” Testing for such a program is reported to possibly begin in 2008 if it were funded by Congress, with possible deployment no sooner than 2016.
        Space-based boost-phase interceptors are of course one of the most important elements of a layered missile defense, providing the most technically effective basis from which missiles can be destroyed. The report of plans for testing, however, is sure to provoke sharp criticism by those ideologically opposed to the weaponization of space. (Link) 

» More stories on: Space-Based Systems