United States:  Officials Fire Scud in Flight Experiment

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency yesterday launched and tracked a Scud missile in an effort to learn more about its flight path and mechanics to enhance U.S. missile defenses, an agency official said (see GSN, Oct. 22).

Officials closely studied the flight of the missile, which they launched from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, until it landed more than 100 miles off the U.S. coast in the Pacific Ocean, said Air Force Lt. Col. Rick Lehner, an agency spokesman.

“The data obtained from a variety of sensors observing the flight will contribute to the development of enhanced missile defense technologies to intercept and destroy Scuds and Scud-type missiles before they can reach their target,” Vandenberg said in a statement.

New sensors measured a variety of characteristics, including the Scud’s speed, altitude and engine burn rate.  U.S. officials last fired a Scud in 1997 (Marc Selinger, Aerospace Daily, Nov. 15).

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British Plans:  London Supports Joint System With United States

The United Kingdom might soon need to protect itself with a missile defense system, British Defense Minister Geoff Hoon said yesterday, indicating support for U.S. development of such a system (see GSN, Nov. 11).

The United Kingdom might find itself the target of rogue states armed with ballistic missiles, and if nuclear deterrence fails, then officials would need a backup defense against the missiles, Hoon said during a speech to the Foreign Policy Center in London.

“We have a new problem — of the rogue state with a limited but dangerous capacity,” he said.  “It is in the interests of all responsible states to confront this,” he added.

The United Kingdom is considering joining the United States to develop a missile defense system to protect both countries and perhaps all of Europe, Hoon said.

“There may come a day when we need to decide to add a further capability to our current range of responses by acquiring missile defenses for the U.K. and for Europe as a whole, in the way the U.S. has already decided,” he said (Michael Evans, London Times, Nov. 13).

Hoon’s comments are likely to be seen as a sign that the United Kingdom plans to agree to U.S. requests to use British air bases as part of the U.S. missile defense system, according to the Financial Times.  Hoon also dismissed concerns that the development of a missile defense system would result in a new arms race, saying there is “no evidence that this has happened or is happening” (Jean Eaglesham, Financial Times, Nov. 13).

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Japan:  United States Plans to Deploy Interceptors in 2008

The United States has told Japan that it plans to begin deploying jointly developed missile interceptors on U.S. Aegis destroyers in 2008 as part of the joint U.S.-Japanese missile defense initiative, U.S. and Japanese sources said Friday (see GSN, Nov. 11).

The U.S. plan calls for deploying the missile interceptors first on U.S. Aegis destroyers and later on Japanese destroyers because developers need time to integrate operations between the U.S. Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, sources said (Kyodo News Service, Nov. 9).

Japanese officials have been reluctant, however, to move past the research phase of the joint missile defense initiative, citing concerns about the relationship between the initiative and Japan’s right to participate in collective defense, according to the Kyodo News Service.  According to Tokyo’s interpretation, the Japanese Constitution bans exercising such rights, Kyodo reported.

During a working-level security meeting in Washington last month, the United States called on Japan to decide soon whether to move to the development phase of the initiative (Kyodo News Service/Japan Times, Nov. 10).

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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).

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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).

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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).

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