U.S. Plans I:  Russian Suggests Joint Effort on Nuclear-Armed Interceptor

The head of Russia’s main nuclear weapons laboratory has said the United States and Russia should consider jointly developing nuclear warhead-tipped missile interceptors as a component of a missile defense system, Defense Week reported today (see GSN, June 28).

Yevgeny Velikhov, director of the Russian Research Center Kurchatov Institute, pitched the idea of developing low-yield nuclear warheads for use on missile interceptors to a visiting delegation of 13 U.S. lawmakers this spring, according to a congressional aide.  While U.S. and Russian Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin have discussed cooperation on a missile defense system, they have never publicly considered using nuclear-armed interceptors, according to Defense Week.

William Schneider, head of the U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Science Board, previously has said that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is interested in using nuclear-armed interceptors, according to Defense Week.  A report accompanying the fiscal 2003 defense authorization bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives encouraged the Pentagon to investigate the idea.  The U.S. Senate, however, passed legislation banning funds for nuclear-armed missile interceptors (John Donnelly, Defense Week, July 8).

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U.S. Plans II:  Missile Defense System to Use British Destroyers

The United States plans to request the use of British naval warships to develop a U.S. missile defense system that could also be used to defend the United Kingdom, the London Sunday Times reported yesterday (see GSN, July 1).

Top U.S. Defense Department officials are expected to travel to London later this month to request British cooperation in constructing a missile defense system, the Times reported.  The proposed system would employ new destroyers currently under construction as early warning ships that could also be armed with missile interceptors, according to the Times (see GSN, June 19).

The United Kingdom’s new Type 45 destroyers, which are expected to be operational in five years, could be used to track incoming ballistic missiles and possibly to destroy them, according to British Defense Ministry officials.

“The Type 45 and its radar system can be developed to play a part (in missile defense),” said Ralph Dunn, spokesman for the British Defense Procurement Agency.  “The missile we have is designed to shoot down low- and medium-level incoming missiles, but an anti-tactical ballistic missile could be added.”

British officials are still waiting for a formal U.S. request for the use of the destroyers and for notification that the United Kingdom would be protected by the system, according to the Times.  A spokesman for the opposition Conservative Party has said the British government is hiding its involvement in the U.S. missile defense program.

“It is time for the defense secretary or even the prime minister to make a statement to Parliament about the government’s missile defense policy and why they are hiding it from the public and their own party,” said Conservative Defense spokesman Bernard Jenkin (Nicholas Rufford, London Sunday Times, July 7).

Russia and Ukraine

Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine might also help the United States develop a missile defense system, said Russian Maj. Gen. Vladimir Dvorkin, senior chair for the center for the problems of strategic nuclear forces (see GSN, July 2).  One example of possible cooperation between the three nations is the use of the Russian-Ukrainian-developed Dnepr rocket to install a system of satellite sensors in space, he said.

“Cooperation is needed for eliminating the uncertainty,” Dvorkin said.  “We have to cooperate to prevent another round of confrontation” (Vesti RTR/Defense and Security, July 3).

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