Japanese Defense Minister Warns of North Korean Missile Threat

Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba has warned that North Korean ballistic missiles could quickly hit targets in Japan, highlighting the need for a Japanese missile defense system, the Sydney Morning Herald reported today (see GSN, Sept. 2).

Ishiba is leading efforts to have Tokyo approve plans for a missile defense system, according to the Herald.  He has requested almost $2 billion to develop such a system, with a goal of having it operational by 2006.

During a speech in the central Japanese city of Nagoya, Ishiba warned that a North Korean missile could hit the city within eight minutes.

“We currently have no means of intercepting them,” Ishiba said.  “Should they carry chemical and biological weapons, tens of thousands of people would die,” he said (Shane Green, Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 10).

Back to top

Missile Defense Agency Will Choose Kinetic Interceptor This Year

To advance its boost-phase missile defense efforts, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency intends to pick the winning design for its kinetic energy interceptor by the end of this year, Jane’s Defense Weekly reported this week (see GSN, Aug. 21).

Boeing and Lockheed Martin have joined forces to compete for the contract and are facing off against a joint Northrop Grumman and Raytheon team.

Simultaneously, agency officials have decided to slow the pace of the interceptor’s development by about two years to allow the technology to mature, according to Jane’s.  Once the winning team is selected, it will be asked to provide a prototype, with some operational capability, by 2011.

Program officials said that depending on an enemy missile’s range, its boost phase can last for 180 to 300 seconds.  To reach the missile in this time, the interceptor will need to be “big,” according to Terry Little, the agency’s KEI program director.

It will probably be “much more like a small (ICBM) than a traditional surface-to-air missile,” he added (Michael Sirak, Jane’s Defense Weekly, Sept. 10).

Back to top

Pentagon Considers Airborne Laser for ICBM Defense

The U.S. Defense Department is considering expanding the Airborne Laser’s prospective target list to include ICBMs, but a recent Pentagon analysis found that a “comprehensive” laser defense against ICBMs would require between 100 and 125 aircraft, Air Force Magazine reported this month (see GSN, Sept. 3).

The Pentagon has not yet made a decision about “the full application of ABL,” said program director Col. Ellen Pawlikowski.  She said that officials are considering the weapon for use in theater and national missile defense.  “We can contribute to both of those missions, in the boost phase,” she added.

To provide a “comprehensive” defense against nations with ICBMs, however, would require flying aircraft continuously in as many as 25 areas, according to a Pentagon official who has looked into a variety of missile defense architectures.  To maintain this defense, as many as 125 aircraft might be needed, according to the official.  A “highly capable” national defense would require 10-15 orbits, Air Force Magazine reported.

The Missile Defense Agency has only said it is planning to build seven Airborne Laser systems.

The laser system’s components will be integrated and installed this winter, and a ground test period is scheduled for spring 2004, Pawlikowski said.  Officials are currently working toward an intercept test by early summer 2005.

Officials have battled weight problems with the laser system, which Pawlikowski said came from inaccurate estimates.

“We’re getting ‘actuals’ in, as opposed to estimates,” she said, adding that the weight has added up to “far more than we had originally anticipated at critical design review” (John Tirpak, Air Force Magazine, September 2003).

Back to top

India, Israel to Move Forward Next Week on Early Warning Radar Sale

Israel is expected to move forward on the sale of three Phalcon airborne early-warning radar systems to India during a summit between the two countries scheduled to begin next week, according to the Wall Street Journal (see GSN, May 16, 2002).

The $1 billion Phalcon system sale is expected to be a key topic during the Israeli-Indian summit, the Journal reported.  The Phalcon is a Russian-built Ilyushin aircraft equipped with an Israeli radar.  Because some of the technology used in the system was jointly developed by Israel and the United States, U.S. approval was needed before the sale could go through, according to the Journal.  The U.S. State Department dropped its objection to the transfer earlier this year.

The Phalcon systems could help provide India with a further military advantage over its South Asian rival Pakistan by providing the capability to monitor aircraft and radio transmissions from hundreds of kilometers away, according to the Journal.  India is expected to use the systems to monitor Islamic militant groups in the disputed region of Kashmir.

“It’s a very sophisticated piece of kit that’ll give India a big strategic advantage over Pakistan,” said Nick Cook, an aerospace consultant with Jane’s Defense Weekly (Chazan/Solomon, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 5).

Meanwhile, the United States has not yet decided to grant Israel approval to sell the jointly developed Arrow missile defense system to India, according to The Hindu (see GSN, Aug. 18).  The review of the proposed sale is “ongoing,” sources said (C. Raja Mohan, The Hindu, Sept. 5).  

Back to top

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

HOME  |  CONTACT US  |  GET INVOLVED  |  SITE MAP