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U.S. allies in Europe hold a wide range of views on BMD. In general, they
support defenses against short-range missiles to protect North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) forces in the field. The United States is working with
two NATO allies, Italy and Germany, on a jointly funded theater
missile defense (TMD) system, known as Medium
Extended Air Defense System (MEADS).
Europe's Eurosam
consortium is also developing its own TMD system on the basis of the SAMP/T
air defense system.
Russia does not appear to be concerned about defenses against short-range
ballistic missiles. In 1997, Russia signed two
agreements with the United States that allow both countries to test and
deploy TMD systems, although these
agreements never entered into force and have been superseded by the decision
of the United States to withdraw from the ABM Treaty. In 2000 and 2001, Russia also proposed to help create
a Europe-wide TMD system on the basis of its own TMD systems, S-300 and S-400.
U.S. European allies are divided, however, on U.S. development and deployment
of defenses against long-range missiles. Great Britain and France have been
increasingly supportive of the U.S. approach, but Germany has been more negative.
British and Danish participation would be required for a successful U.S.
ballistic missile defense system because key radars would be located in Great
Britain and in Greenland, a part of Denmark.
Other issues troubling European countries concern the development of a European
BMD system or the lack of such a system. A key question is how the sovereign
states of Europe could organize an integrated European BMD system. What threats
such a system would defend against, how it would be funded, who would control
it, and where it would be deployed raise highly complex technical and political
questions. At the same time, European countries are also concerned that a
U.S. national missile defense system could "de-couple" the United States from
Europe in a future crisis or war. If a European state were attacked, the United
States might sit under its defensive umbrella and refuse to take the risk
of defending its allies.
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Further Reading:
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Newsmax.com, "U.K.'s
Blair Supportive of Bush on Missile Defense" |
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Heritage Foundation, U.S.-British
Cooperation in Meeting the Global Missile Threat |
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CDI, Tomas Valasek, "Europe's
Role in National Missile Defense" |
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CNS, Mountbatten Centre, International
Perspectives on Missile Proliferation and Defenses |
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Heritage Foundation, Iain Duncan Smith,
"The
European Case for Missile Defense" |
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CNS, Mountbatten Centre, Missile
Proliferation and Defences: Problems and Prospects |
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