U.S. Forces in South Korea Get Missile Defense Upgrades

U.S. forces in South Korea have received new equipment to upgrade Patriot missile interceptor batteries deployed there, the U.S. Eighth Army announced today (see GSN, June 10).

The new equipment will provide the 1-43 Air Defense Artillery Battalion with the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 interceptor, the Eighth Army said in a press release.  The upgraded interceptor, part of an $11 billion effort over the next several years to improve U.S. defensive capabilities in South Korea, will bring “enhanced defensive capabilities to the peninsula as well as contribute to the overall deterrence U.S. forces bring to the alliance,” the Army said (U.S. Eighth Army release, Sept. 16).

The new equipment was deployed in July, but was only announced today after troops operating the antimissile batteries completed their training (Reuters, Sept. 16).

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U.S. Air Force Criticizes Contractor Over Missile Detection Satellite

A senior U.S. Air Force official last month criticized defense contractor Northrop Grumman over poor handling of the Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) satellite project, a planned component of the U.S. missile defense system, Bloomberg.com reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2002).

“Weak management oversight, inadequately designed test facilities and poor manufacturing discipline” have led to a 10-month delivery delay in the project, wrote Lt. Gen. Brian Arnold, commander of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Command, in a Aug. 19 letter to Northrop Grumman President Ronald Sugar.  The SBIRS-High project is intended to provide a system satellites to detect and track missile launches.

“To be clear and concise, I am very concerned about your corporate commitment,” Arnold wrote.

A Northrop Grumman spokesman said the company is “confident” that is has the right personnel for the SBIRS-High project.

“We are confident that we have the right management and talent in place,” Northrop Grumman spokesman Frank Moore said (Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg.com, Sept. 15).

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Japan Could Strike First to Prevent North Korean Missile Attack

Japan would feel justified attacking North Korea pre-emptively if it detected an imminent missile attack, Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said in an interview reported by the London Independent today (see GSN, Sept. 10).

“The Japanese constitution permits my position.  Attacking North Korea after a missile attack on Japan is too late.  If North Korea orders its military to send a missile to attack Japan and the missile is raised to vertical in preparation for launch, then Japan will assume that an attack has begun and has the right to attack that particular missile launch site.  What else can the missile be used for but to attack us?” he said.

Ishiba has tested Japanese limits on discussing its defense options, according to the Independent, in part by publicly questioning whether Japan should change its prohibition on having offensive military capabilities (David McNeill, London Independent, Sept. 15).

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Indian Purchase of Arrow Missile Interceptor Awaits U.S. Approval

While U.S. officials have approved Israel’s sale of ground- and air-based radars to India, New Delhi’s request to purchase Arrow missile interceptors has not yet received U.S. support, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Yosef Lapid said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 5).

On a visit this week to India, Lapid advanced a deal to sell three airborne Phalcon radar systems, saying the deal could be closed in “a few weeks or months.”  India has already acquired Israeli ground-based Green Pine radars that would provide precise guidance for the Arrow interceptors, if India can win U.S. approval to buy them.

U.S. officials “are studying this issue and the moment they remove this obstacle, the door will be open (to sell it to India),” said Lapid.

He said that the United States has the “legal right” to reject such a sale, but that Washington has not objected to the warming relationship between India and Israel (Times of India, Sept. 11).

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U.S.-Canadian Missile Defense Talks Advance

Canadian Defense Minister John McCallum said U.S.-Canadian talks on missile defense cooperation  are “proceeding well,” the Toronto Star reported today (see GSN, June 2).

U.S. and Canadian officials met three times this summer to discuss Canada’s potential role in a continental missile defense system, according to the Star.

“I’m hoping that sometime in the fall we might be able to come back to [the] Cabinet.  But we are talking about very important issues and I’m not going to rush it,” he said.

McCallum did not say what role Canada might play in the system or whether any missiles could be based on Canadian soil (Bruce Campion-Smith, Toronto Star, Sept. 11).

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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).

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