ABM Treaty:  U.S. Withdrawal Threatens Stability, Chinese Official Says

By Kerry Boyd
Global Security Newswire

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — China last week criticized the U.S. decision to withdraw from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, saying the move could jeopardize the stability of the international arms control system.  Liu Jieyi, deputy director general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Department of Arms Control and Disarmament, spoke Friday at an international arms control conference here (see GSN, Dec. 14, 2001).

China does not feel that its security is threatened by the U.S. decision, Liu told Global Security Newswire, but China’s somewhat muted response to the U.S. withdrawal does not indicate approval.

Cooperation Is Necessary

In a speech to the Sandia National Laboratories Twelfth Annual International Arms Control Conference, Liu emphasized that international cooperation is important to preserving security and promoting arms control and disarmament.

Countries should not abrogate arms control treaties, Liu said.  An international arms control and nuclear disarmament regime have been established as a comprehensive system centered on the United Nations, and undermining that system serves the interests of no country, he said.

The Sept. 11 attacks showed that security threats are increasing in unpredictability and are more diversified than in the past, Liu said.  Terrorism and international crime have replaced interstate conflict as the primary source of instability.  In such an environment, international cooperation is the only way to achieve peace and security, he said, adding that no country can achieve absolute security alone.

Therefore, countries should adhere to international law to decrease uncertainty, Liu said, adding that cooperation is the only way to prevent WMD proliferation.  No country should resort to force, he said.  Using military force will not solve problems and can actually be counterproductive, he said, adding that China has no intention to threaten any country.

Nuclear Disarmament

Although China and the United States disagree over the ABM Treaty, they are not far apart on other arms control issues, Liu said.  For example, he said that China’s nuclear export controls are comprehensive.

Liu said China is working to tighten missile and missile technology export controls — the subject of U.S. concern and China-U.S. discussions (see GSN, April 17).  China also supports negotiations for a fissile material cutoff treaty, he said (see GSN, April 5).

“The role of nuclear weapons should be less, not more,” he said.

Liu repeated China’s policy of promoting nuclear disarmament (see GSN, April 10).  Efforts to prevent WMD proliferation will be ineffective unless countries continue to pursue nuclear disarmament, he said.

Countries should also take steps to prevent the weaponization of outer space, he said, including agreeing to international legal instruments (see GSN, April 2).

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U.S. Plans:  Army Awards Contract for Alaska Test Bed

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded Fluor Alaska Inc. with the first construction contract to build facilities for a missile defense test bed in Alaska, Defense Week reported yesterday (see GSN, March 5).

According to the $250 million, three-year contract, Fluor will build facilities at Fort Greely and Eareckson Air Force Station in Alaska.  Construction is scheduled to begin in June.

The company’s responsibilities include constructing roads, security fences, communication equipment buildings, utility buildings, a missile assembly building, an exoatmospheric kill vehicle assembly building and an interceptor storage building, according to Defense Week.  Defense contractor Boeing will remain responsible for constructing missile silos and installing missiles.

The missile defense test bed in Alaska will have battle-management and communication links to other missile defense sites and at least five interceptors, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, director of the Missile Defense Agency.

The MDA plans to launch test interceptors from the site and hopes to base a small operational anti-missile force there in 2004, Defense Week reported.

“We’re on schedule and less than 900 days away from our target date of September [2004] for that capability to be in place and to use it for ground integration testing,” Kadish said (Ann Roosevelt, Defense Week, April 22).

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U.S. Plans:  SBIRS-Low to Launch Two Satellites by 2007, Officials Say

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency plans to launch in 2006 the first satellite in a constellation that will track ICBM flights, agency officials said Thursday.  The second satellite in the Space-Based Infrared System-Low (SBIRS-Low) program will be launched by 2007, the officials said.

For the first satellite, made by defense contractor Raytheon, officials in the recently restructured SBIRS-Low program plan to use hardware that has already been developed, an agency official said (see GSN, April 19).

A “capabilities-based” SBIRS-Low program allows the agency to put initial satellites in orbit to test how the system performs, and to use that information in future satellite development, the official said.

“One of the benefits of what we are doing with this structure is we are bringing the best ideas from all the contractors now into this combined team,” the official said.

Raytheon and contractor Northrop Grumman are expected to compete for future SBIRS-Low satellites well past the initial system development phase, the official said.  When the Raytheon satellite is launched in 2006, Northrop Grumman will have time to continue developing its satellite, which could be the second one scheduled to be launched, the official said.

“It gives us the opportunity to put one satellite from one contractor up and see how it performs and then put a satellite from the other contractor up and see how it performs,” the official said.  “It does not set a definite date by which we have to end competition.  It allows us to continue the competition as long as possible.”

The agency is examining an initial SBIRS-Low satellite system of eight to 12 satellites, installed in increments of one to two satellites, the official said.  The final number of SBIRS-Low satellites has not yet been decided, but will probably be less than previous plans for 27 satellites, according to Defense Daily.

“We don’t think that’s a decision we need to make right away … this allows us to be prudent in our investment approach and development approach and not make a decision to put a large constellation up until we understand the performance of the technology and the benefit of that,” the official said.

The SBIRS-Low program has come under congressional criticism, but agency officials have said it is a necessary component of a U.S. missile defense system, according to Defense Daily.

“In terms of capability, we certainly believe it is important to have a SBIRS-Low capability,” the official said.  “It allows us to have not only the early warning of a ballistic missile launch, but allows us to have the continuous track of a ballistic missile payload.  That is something we don’t have and that is important to us” (Kerry Gildea, Defense Daily, April 19).

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