Rumsfeld on Ship Launched Missile Threat
On September 16, 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, gave a press briefing, at which Rumsfeld forcefully underlined the capability, already possessed by such countries as Iran, Iraq, and North Korea, to deliver ballistic missiles against the United States. An excerpt from the press conference:
Question: “…as far as we know, Saddam Hussein does not have a delivery system of carrying weapons of mass destruction to CONUS—to the shores of the United States—no ICBMs that can reach us, as far as we know. And yet intelligence sources say that North Korea will have missiles capable of hitting Alaska in 2004 and, with a smaller warhead, the West Coast of the United States. Militarily, could not a case be made that North Korea poses a greater threat to the United States than Iraq does? …
Rumsfeld: “…September 11th suggested lots of ways to deliver lethal damage to the United States.
In addition, countries have placed ballistic missiles in ships—cargo ships, commercial ships, dime a dozen—all over the world. Any given time, there’s any number off our coast, coming, going, on transporter-erector-launchers, and they simply erect it, fire off a ballistic missile, put it down, cover it up. Their radar signature’s not any different than other 50 others in close proximity. So your comment that they don’t have the ability to deliver a ballistic missile to this country is flat wrong.
(Article, Link)
» More stories on: Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Proliferation, Ship-Launched Threat
Chinese CSS-5 Test May Have Included Anti-BMD Countermeasures
The September 1 edition of Janes
Missiles and Rockets reports that the early July test of their CSS-5 ballistic missile (range 2,150-2,500km) may have included the test of countermeasures, desinged to overcome ballistic missile defenses, such as those the United States will deploy around 2004-2005, after the June 13, 2002 withdrawal from the ABM Treaty.
If true, the timing of the test of countermeasures may very likely suggest a “message” to the United States that China will do all within its power to retain a strong offensive nuclear capability against America.
Janes cites US press reports that the missile test involved the deploying of six or seven decoy warheads besides its main payload warhead. The CSS-5 can carry a high explosive or a nuclear warhead of up to 300 kT yield.
This particular test of the CSS-5, or DF-21, began with a launch from the Jiangxi province and traveling some 1,300 km into the Kansu province. The DF-21 has a solid propellant, more advanced than liquid propellants and capable of much faster launch readiness.
According to Janes, China’s IRBM force is said to be located in the provinces of Datong in central China, Jianshui in southern China, Tonghua in northeast China, and Lianxiwang in western China.
(Link)
» More stories on: China, Technology, Testing - Foreign
» Missile details: CSS-5 Mod 2, CSS-5
