U.S. Plans:  Pentagon Looks to Blimps for Missile Defense

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has announced a search for contractors to build an airship that would float for months at an altitude of 70,000 feet, carry up to 4,000 pounds and help defend against ballistic and cruise missiles (see GSN, Oct. 28).

Pentagon officials have said that airships could play a vital role in defending the United States, possibly providing an early warning system against ballistic missile attacks, the Los Angeles Times reported today.

“We are very excited about high-altitude airships,” Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Advanced Systems and Concepts Sue Payton said.

Missile Defense Agency planners, who have set a February due date for proposed airship designs, have already begun speaking with two major U.S. defense contractors about prospective plans.  Defense officials have said they expect defense industry giants Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Raytheon as well as smaller companies to compete for the three-year contract to build a prototype airship.  Officials said they hope to award the contract in March, possibly to more than one firm.  The Pentagon is working to build an operational airship by 2010, according to the Times.

Defense officials recently told industry representatives of a possible scenario in which 10 airships would line the coasts of the United States to detect and track ballistic and cruise missiles.  In the scenario, the airships would carry 40-foot radars, and eventually would also carry lasers to shoot down incoming missiles.  In meetings with defense contractors, defense officials also discussed monitoring terrorist activity on the ground, the Times reported (Peter Pae, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 11).

The proposed airship, which could watch over an area with a 1,200-kilometer diameter, has the backing of the U.S. Northern Command, Aviation Week reported today.  The Missile Defense Agency has said it wants to conduct a first flight of the blimp in 2005, and officials are working toward a missile defense capability by 2006.  The airship will most likely begin operating with infrared, electro-optical and communications payloads, but Gary Payton, director of the agency’s advanced technology office, said he wants to eventually incorporate laser radar as well (Robert Wall, Aviation Week, Nov. 11).

Back to top

Israel:  U.S., Israel Successfully Test Latest Patriot Missile

U.S. and Israeli military personnel last week successfully tested the latest iteration of the Patriot Advanced Capability missile, Israel’s Ma’ariv reported (see GSN, Nov. 8).

Units from both countries that are conducting joint exercises in Israel fired two Patriot missiles Nov. 6.  The Israeli Defense Forces said that the test, which had been planned well in advance, was successful (Binder/Binder, Ma’ariv, Nov. 7).

A complex software upgrade has improved links between Patriot missiles and radars, senior Israeli air force sources said.

The United States and Israel plan on conducting a joint missile test in January 2003 in Israel unless the United States has attacked Iraq, the Beirut Daily Star reported Saturday (Beirut Daily Star, Nov. 9).

Meanwhile, Israeli Brig. Gen. Yosef Kastel, the chairman of the Security Committee of the Center for Local Government, told a committee of the Knesset that the country’s air raid shelters are either in a state of disrepair or unusable.

He also addressed biological warfare, saying, “the protection the Home Front Command can provide will not stand up to an extended biological attack” (Binder/Binder, Ma’ariv).

Back to top

Japan:  Regional Concerns Boost Tokyo’s Interest in Defense System

Concerns over North Korea’s missile development efforts and suspected nuclear weapons program have increased Japanese interest in developing a missile defense system, Japanese officials and analysts have said, according to today’s New York Times (see GSN, Nov. 8).

“The impact of the news from North Korea has been strong,” Masashi Nishihara, president of the National Defense Academy, Japan’s interservice military college, said Friday.  “North Korea has reversed its positions.  That justifies us to move forward to develop missile defense and to eventually deploy it,” Nishihara added.

Japan has already been researching missile defense technologies that the United States hopes to put to use in 2008, the Times reported.  Because of concerns over possibly antagonizing China, however, Japanese officials had planned to delay deciding until 2004 whether to join the United States in field trials.

Shigeru Ishiba, head of the Japanese Defense Agency, has urged that Japan increase its missile defense efforts with the United States.

“We should exert efforts to get the program to leave the research phase as soon as possible,” Ishiba told a Japanese Parliament committee last week.

The Japanese media has reported that the United States has begun to deploy missile surveillance units in Japan and that Washington is expected to pressure Tokyo into developing a missile defense system, the Times reported.

U.S. Defense Undersecretary Douglas Feith, however, said that Japan does not need to be pressured.

“You don’t have to pressure Japan for Japanese to realize that Japan is facing a serious threat of missile attack,” Feith said.  “There are missile arcs that one could draw that clearly cover Japan.  That’s what makes the missile threat very serious,” he added (James Brooke, New York Times, Nov. 11).

Back to top

ABM Treaty:  Decision Expected Soon in Congressional Lawsuit

A decision is expected within a few weeks on a lawsuit filed by 32 members of the U.S. House of Representatives to stop the U.S. withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, The Nation reported Tuesday (see GSN, Aug. 11). 

The representatives, led by Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), have claimed the Bush administration does not have the right to withdraw the United States from a treaty without first seeking the approval of Congress.  During the hearing, which began Oct. 31, Peter Weiss of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy argued that the U.S. Constitution describes a treaty as a “supreme law of the land,” and that the president is obligated to execute all laws.

“The president insists he has unilateral authority to terminate treaties and he can do so without Congress,” Kucinich said during a press conference held after the hearing.  “But nowhere in the Constitution does it say the president has the power to repeal laws,” he added.

“What is to prevent this or future presidents,” the representatives’ legal filing asks, “from terminating, by his or her sole decision, U.S. adherence to the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO), the Genocide Convention, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, various anti-terrorism conventions, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the Chemical and Biological Weapons Conventions or, for that matter, the charter of the United Nations?”

U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Shannen Coffin, representing the White House, claimed that the plaintiffs were trying to improperly fight an issue in the legal system that they had already lost in the political arena.  The Justice Department’s legal filing in the case labels the lawmakers’ claims as “little more than a purely political attack” (Matt Bivens, The Nation, Nov. 5).

For further information, see:

ABM Treaty Text and Associated Documents (U.S. Defense Department)

U.S. Fact Sheet on Withdrawal from ABM Treaty

Back to top

Israel:  Washington and Tel Aviv Plan Joint Exercise

The United States and Israel are preparing to conduct a joint missile defense exercise in Israel in January, the Israeli Defense Ministry said today.

Both U.S. and Israeli air defense units are to participate in the exercise, with the United States expected to leave behind three upgraded Patriot air defense batteries when the exercise is completed, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz reported, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Nov. 4).

The exercise is part of the continuing cooperation between the U.S. and Israeli militaries, Israeli Defense Ministry spokeswoman Rachel Ashkenazi said (Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Nov. 8).

Israel Shows Off Interceptors

Israel displayed its Arrow missile interceptors to reporters yesterday as part of an effort to deter Iraqi missile strikes in the event of war with the United States (see GSN, Oct. 7).

The Arrow is considered the most advanced missile defense system currently deployed in the world, according to the Associated Press.  The Israeli military has said the system will provide a better defense against Iraqi missile attacks than Israel had during the 1991 Gulf War.

“I’m sure we are better prepared today,” said Brig. Gen. Yair Dori, head of the Israeli air defense forces.  “In 1991, we had almost nothing.  Now we have a very active, robust defense,” he added.

Israel deployed its first Arrow battery two years ago at the Palmachim Air Force Base to defend Tel Aviv.  A second system has been deployed near the northern costal city of Hadera and a third is currently being constructed, AP reported.  Israel jointly developed the Arrow with the United States at a cost of about $2 billion.

Israeli military historian Martin van Creweld said that while the Arrow represented a significant technological advance, it is overly expensive for the level of threat Israel faces from Iraqi missile strikes.

“If it were me, I would rely on the threat of retaliation,” van Creweld said.  “There is no defense system that is 100 percent effective,” he added (Greg Myre, Associated Press/Boston Globe, Nov. 8).

For further information, see:

MDA Terminal Defense Segment

Federation of American Scientists Background on Arrow

Back to top

Japan:  Washington to Urge Tokyo to Develop System

U.S. defense officials planned today to urge Japan to construct its own missile defense system to counter threats from North Korean ballistic missiles, the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun reported, according to CNN.com (see GSN, Nov. 5).

U.S. Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith is expected to promote the idea when he meets with Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba today, the newspaper reported, quoting a U.S. defense official.

Japan signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States on a joint missile defense study in 1998, following a North Korean missile test.  Japan has been hesitant to move the program into the development stage, however, because of cost concerns and fears of antagonizing China, CNN.com reported.

So far, Japan has focused its missile defense efforts on research, including examining the use of Aegis radar-equipped warships, according to CNN.com.  Such a system would use infrared sensors and low-cost interceptors to destroy enemy ballistic missiles.  The program is expected to cost more than $8 billion and would require Japan to review its constitution on exercising the right of self-defense, the newspaper reported (CNN.com, Nov. 8).

Back to top

U.S. Plans:  MDA Plans Sea-Based Midcourse Defense Intercept Test

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency said it plans to conduct an intercept test later this month of its sea-based midcourse missile defense project, one of several possible components of a U.S. missile defense system (see GSN, Sept. 3).

The test, currently scheduled for the week of Nov. 18, should enable technicians to evaluate how well the Raytheon Standard Missile 3 interceptor can destroy an ascending target missile, officials said.  U.S. Navy and Missile Defense Agency officials are also considering testing new software designed to guide the interceptor to a more precise point on the target missile, officials said.

The SM-3 interceptor has already performed successfully in two previous tests, according to Defense Daily (see GSN, June 14).  During the most recent test, the Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie fired an SM-3 to successfully intercept an Aries ballistic missile target launched from a base in Hawaii (Kerry Gildea, Defense Daily, Nov. 6).

For further information, see:

MDA Basics of Missile Defense

MDA Missile Defense System

MDA Midcourse Defense Segment

Sea-Based Midcourse

Back to top

U.S. Plans:  Nuclear Study Continues Despite Congressional Ban

A U.S. ban on developing nuclear weapons for roles in missile defense will not stop a Defense Science Board study to examine the nuclear interceptor idea, Aerospace Daily reported last week (see GSN, Oct. 22).

The ban — which is included in the fiscal 2003 defense appropriations act signed into law last month by U.S. President George W. Bush — prohibits funding any phase of development of nuclear-tipped interceptors (see GSN, Oct. 24).  A defense official, however, said that the board’s advisory role would exempt it from the legislation.

The board “is strictly advisory, and DOD management can implement the board’s recommendations as deemed appropriate,” so the ban “will have no impact on the outcome or completion of the study,” the official said.

The study, which was commissioned in April, should be completed by the end of the year, the official said (Marc Selinger, Aerospace Daily, Oct. 31).

Back to top

U.S.-Russia:  Negotiators Near Joint Satellite Agreement

The United States and Russia are close to finalizing a memorandum of understanding on jointly building and operating two experimental satellites to track ballistic missile launches, Jane’s Defense Weekly reported today (see GSN, July 2).

Officials are developing the satellites through the Russian-American Observation Satellite (RAMOS) program created in 1992 to help facilitate U.S.-Russian missile defense cooperation.  One component of the project is to evaluate the effectiveness of tracking missile bodies as opposed to missile plumes, Jane’s reported.

“We are in active negotiations ... with the Russians over closing an agreement on the RAMOS program,” U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, said last month.

The memorandum would create the legal framework for constructing the satellites — which officials expect to launch in 2007 and 2008 — and operating them for two to five years, according to Jane’s.

The United States plans to fund the more than $300 million project and to provide the necessary infrared sensors and other cameras, Jane’s reported.  Russia plans to build and launch the satellites and to provide control systems for a joint U.S.-Russian operations center to be located in Moscow (Michael Sirak, Jane’s Defense Weekly, Nov. 6).

For further information, see:

MDA Basics of Missile Defense

MDA Missile Defense System

Back to top

Pakistan:  Islamabad Prepares to Buy U.S. Missile Defense Technology

Pakistan plans to purchase a ballistic missile defense system from the United States for more than $1.5 billion, the Times of India reported today.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf recently approved the move.  The Defense Ministry reportedly plans to choose between the Patriot, the Nike Hercules and the Hawk missile systems.  Officials plan to deploy the missiles around key facilities and nuclear sites, the Times reported.

The Pakistani decision follows reports that regional rival India might acquire a Russian ballistic missile defense system.  The United States said it is enthusiastic to provide a missile defense system to prevent further missile proliferation in the area, according to the Times (Times of India, Nov. 5).

Back to top

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

HOME  |  CONTACT US  |  GET INVOLVED  |  SITE MAP