Missile Defense (General thread)

[Ryan Ruck]

I have ZERO doubt this was meant, at least in part, to send a message to Russia.

Glad to see we are showing Ivan we can do the "missile test launch to send a message" game too.

[American Patriot]

Well... not precisely.

It was... umm planned well in advance. Haha

[Ryan Ruck]

Buzzkill...

I figured as much.

But seriously, at least we didn't sit and call it off lest we offend someone. And hopefully Russia at least got some sort of message from it.

[American Patriot]

US and Poland agree shield deal
BBC News ^ | 14 August 2008

US and Poland agree shield deal

Breaking News

The US and Poland have agreed a preliminary deal on plans for the controversial US defence shield, Warsaw has announced.

The plan would see the US base 10 missile interceptors in Poland in exchange for help strengthening Polish defences, said PM Donald Tusk.

The scheme is highly controversial and has been opposed by Russia.

Poland is reported to have demanded security help after Moscow threatened to target its missiles at the bases.

The Polish Foreign Ministry told the PAP news agency that the deal would be signed at 1800 GMT.

The US signed a deal with the Czech Republic in July to base tracking radars there as part of the missile defence system.

The US wants the sites to be in operation by about 2012.

Russia has expressed concern about the system in the past, with one official saying the deal "complicates" global security.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...

[Malsua]

I'd like to see some east coast interceptors. Knock down those EMPs launched by Imahnutjob in the boost phase.

[American Patriot]

Missile Defense Agency Completes Testing of Propulsion Component for Multiple Kill Vehicle-L
Missile Defense Agency ^ | August 6, 2008 | Pam Rogers

Missile Defense Agency director, announced today that testing of a key propulsion system component for the Agency’s Multiple Kill Vehicle-L (MKV-L) payload has been successfully completed. During an engagement with the enemy, this high-performance propulsion system maneuvers the carrier vehicle and its cargo of kill vehicles into the threat complex to intercept the targets. This technology will negate more advanced countermeasures that could be aboard hostile ballistic missiles. In the event of an enemy launch, a single interceptor equipped with this payload destroys not only the re-entry vehicle but also all credible threat objects,including countermeasures the enemy deploys to try to spoof our defenses.

(Excerpt) Read more at mda.mil ...

[vector7]

Russia extends its ABM system to Belarus

By MARTIN SIEFF
UPI Senior News Analyst
Published: Oct. 16, 2008 at 12:18 PM

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Russia is going to extend its anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense system to integrate it with that of the neighboring former Soviet republic of Belarus.

The two countries will formally seal their new air defense treaty on Nov. 2, RIA Novosti reported Oct. 8.

In many respects, the agreement comes as no surprise. Hard-line Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been a loyal, tough ally of Russia under President Vladimir Putin, and nothing has changed since Dmitry Medvedev succeeded Putin as president earlier this year.

However, the new treaty is still notable as part of Russia's far-ranging plans to put its entire armed forces on a much more formidable footing, capable of fighting and winning a war against NATO in Europe.

Commentators in the Moscow media this month have openly hailed the success of the enormous, monthlong Stabilnost-(Stability)-2008 armed forces exercises as showing Russia was once again able to confront NATO in strategic and conventional military terms.

The new Russian-Belarusian air defense cooperation treaty will be signed at the next meeting, which is scheduled to be held in Moscow on Nov. 2, of the Supreme State Council of the Russia-Belarus Union State, RIA Novosti said.

Pavel Borodin, state secretary of the Russia-Belarus Union State organization, told reporters in Moscow Oct. 8 he was confident the new treaty would be signed Nov. 2, saying, "I have no doubt of that."

"Militarily speaking, it is virtually a shield against NATO," Borodin said.

The RIA Novosti report also said military ties between Russia and Belarus were intensifying in reaction to the Bush administration's continued determination to deploy Ground-based Mid-course Interceptors -- GBIs -- in Poland to the west of Belarus.

The 10 GBIs are meant to defend the United States and Western Europe against the eventual threat of nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles that Iran might use to threaten Western nations. However, Russian leaders are unanimous and outspoken in their claims that the GBIs are really meant to be deployed against them.

Belarus participated fully in the Stabilnost-2008 exercise that has just concluded. RIA Novosti cited Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as stating that plans were already under way to follow that up with a joint strategic command-and-staff exercise called Zapad-2009 next year.

"The drills should become another practical step in training our armed forces and contribute to the creation of an actual security system for the Union state," he said.

This month, Belarus is also working with Russia to carry out the comprehensive Osen-2008 operational exercise within the framework of the joint strategic command-and-staff exercise Stabilnost-2008, RIA Novosti said.

Russia continues to favor Belarus in providing its most advanced anti-aircraft and anti-ballistic missile defense systems to it. The report noted that Belarus already operates "several Russian-made S-300 air defense divisions on combat duty and is negotiating the purchase of advanced S-400 systems from Russia, which will be made available by 2010."

In 2007 Russia pledged to go on delivering necessary weapons systems to Belarus "at subsidized rates and on a priority basis," RIA Novosti said.

http://www.upi.com/Security_Industry...7261224173917/

[vector7]

Gates: Outlook For U.S. Nuke Safety Bleak

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2008

---

Defense Secretary Robert Gates makes remarks at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, Oct. 28, 2008. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

(AP) The long-term outlook for keeping U.S. nuclear weapons safe and reliable is "bleak," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday. In part, he said, that was because the United States is experiencing a brain drain in the laboratories that design and develop the world's most powerful weapons.

Gates said America's more than 5,000 nuclear weapons are now safe and secure, but he sketched out a series of concerns about the future, while stressing that nuclear weapons must remain a viable part of the U.S. strategy for deterring attack as long as other countries have them.

"Hope as we will, the power of nuclear weapons and their strategic impact is a genie that cannot be put back in the bottle - at least for a very long time," he said in remarks at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank that advocates the elimination of nuclear arms.

In a later question-and-answer session with his audience, Gates said he is concerned about the possibility that some Russian nuclear weapons from the old Soviet arsenal may not be fully accounted for.

"I have fairly high confidence that no strategic or modern tactical nuclear weapons have leaked" beyond Russian borders, Gates said. "What worries me are the tens of thousands of old nuclear mines, nuclear artillery shells and so on, because the reality is the Russians themselves probably don't have any idea how many of those they have or, potentially, where they are."

Gates also said that if were advising the next U.S. president, he would advocate new nuclear talks with Moscow.

"I believe we should go for another agreement with the Russians," he said. "I believe it could involve further cuts in the number of deployed warheads. I believe we do need the verification provisions. But I think it ought to be an agreement that is shorter, simpler and easier to adjust to real-world conditions than most of the strategic arms agreements that we've seen over the last 40 years."

Both presidential candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, advocate negotiating further reductions with Russia.

Gates offered a number of reasons why the United States should maintain its nuclear arsenal, including the assertion that by providing an umbrella of protection for allies like Japan and South Korea, it removes a reason for those countries to feel the need to develop their own nuclear weapons.

Echoing concerns by some congressional Republicans, Gates said there are reasons to worry about the U.S. arsenal.

"Let me first say very clearly that our weapons are safe, secure and reliable," Gates said. "The problem is the long-term prognosis - which I would characterize as bleak." He noted that the United States has not designed a new nuclear weapon since the 1980s and has not built a new one since 1992.

In his most extensive remarks on nuclear weapons since he became Pentagon chief nearly two years ago, Gates spelled out in detail his views on why nuclear weapons play a vital role in the broader U.S. defense strategy. And he called for urgent action to reverse a decline in focus on nuclear issues.

"Currently the United States is the only declared nuclear power that is neither modernizing its nuclear arsenal nor has the capability to produce a new nuclear warhead," he said. "To be blunt, there is absolutely no way we can maintain a credible deterrent and reduce the number of weapons in our stockpile without resorting to testing our stockpile or pursuing a modernization program."

The Gates remarks come amid a growing debate in national security circles over whether and how the United States should take the lead in pushing for the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons.

Gates made clear he believes that such a goal, while reasonable, cannot be realized for many years.

Asked about Iran by a member of his audience, Gates said he believed the international community would not care if Iran had a nuclear program if it were devoted to civilian power generation and if Tehran had verifiably forsworn any ambition to develop nuclear weapons.

Gates said he believes it is not too late to persuade Iran to give up on nuclear arms.

"I think the pressures from the international community and ... economic pressures that caused them difficulty at home still have promise in terms of getting them to make a policy decision to go in another direction," he said. "And it probably involves also some kind of assurances with respect to security

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n4554647.shtml

[Ryan Ruck]

Laser Fired From Nose Of 747 For First Time

For the first time, the Air Force test fired the high-energy airborne laser it is developing to shoot down missiles, program officials announced Monday.

During the Nov. 24 ground test at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., the laser blazed through the beam control/fire control system before shooting out the turret mounted on the nose of a Boeing 747. The beam control/fire control system, operated by a crew inside the jet, steered and focused the beam onto a simulated ballistic missile target.

"With the achievement ... the team has now completed the two major milestones it hoped to accomplish in 2008, keeping ABL on track to conduct the missile shoot-down demonstration planned for next year," said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. The test team achieved "first light" firing Sept. 7 at Edwards.

The ABL aircraft, designated YAL-1A by the Air Force, is a modified Boeing 747-400F whose back half holds the high-energy laser, designed and built by Northrop Grumman. The front section of the aircraft contains the beam control/fire control system, developed by Lockheed Martin, and the battle management system, provided by Boeing.

[Jag]

U.S. military sets high-stakes missile-shield test


Thu Dec 4, 2008 6:21pm EST

By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military is set to run a "realistic" test Friday of a system built to knock out long-range missiles that could be fired by North Korea or Iran, the Pentagon said.

The drill, over the Pacific, will be the first since September 2007 involving an attempted intercept by the sole U.S. shield against long-range ballistic missiles.

Boeing Co is prime contractor for the system, called the ground-based midcourse defense. It is part of an emerging, layered shield against missiles that could be tipped with chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.

"Target is representative of the type we would expect from a country like North Korea or Iran," said Richard Lehner, a spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency.

"It is also realistic in terms of distance involved, trajectory, speed and timeframe, i.e., about 30 minute flight of threat missile," he said in an emailed reply to Reuters.

President George W. Bush has been spending roughly $10 billion a year on all aspects of missile defense, the Pentagon's costliest annual outlay for an arms development program. The United States and Russia are at odds over a Bush administration plan to extend the Boeing-managed system into Eastern Europe, using 10 silo-based two-stage interceptors in Poland and a related radar system in the Czech Republic.

President-elect Barack Obama, on his transition website, says he supports missile defense, but will avoid drawing resources from other national security priorities "until we are positive the technology will protect the American public."

To date, the core ground-based defense system has destroyed its target in six of nine attempts, according to the Missile Defense Agency. Overall, there have been 36 intercepts in 46 tries across all elements of the evolving shield, including ship-based and intermediate-range systems, the agency reckons.

Thomas Christie, the Pentagon's chief weapons tester for four years starting in 2001, said the stakes were high at a time when the U.S. defense budget could be constrained by U.S. economic problems.

"They have to have a success or the program is in deep trouble, both with Congress and the new administration," he said.

Victoria Samson, an expert on missile defense at the private Center for Defense Information, said that, even if the test succeeded on Friday, it did not prove the United States had an effective or reliable shield.

"It has a long way to go before we could depend on it to work in a non-test environment," she said.

The planned test on Friday is to use a long-range interceptor from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, against a missile with a dummy warhead fired from Kodiak, Alaska. The interceptor will be cued by four target-tracking sensors, the Pentagon said.

Lehner, the spokesman, cautioned that weather at Kodiak was iffy, with rain forecast.

"Range safety officials will make a determination as to whether or not it is safe to launch the target, but not until tomorrow during the test window" of 3 PM to 7 PM EST, he said.

Testing problems led the Missile Defense Agency to shift the focus of the last major GMD test on July 18. Rather than go for the originally planed intercept, it was tweaked to test integration of sensors. The delay followed discovery of a soldering glitch in L-3 Communications Holdings Inc telemetry equipment aboard the "kill vehicle" used to collide with the target.

"The GMD program is a highly complex system and whenever a quality issue arises, we take it very seriously," said Marc Selinger, a Boeing spokesman. "To address the soldering problem discovered in some telemetry equipment used for test purposes, we have reviewed the design and updated manufacturing processes of the supplier that provided the equipment."

Raytheon Co supplies the kill vehicles and radars used in the system; Northrop Grumman Corp, the battle management command and control; and Orbital Sciences Corp, interceptor boost vehicles.

http://www.reuters.com/article/domes...dChannel=10112

Jag

[American Patriot]

www.33minutes.com

Just a link.

But, if you value America, go there. Stop, look and listen.

[Ryan Ruck]

That's a great teaser trailer. Will be interesting to see the whole thing!

[American Patriot]

HOLY SHIT


U.S. missile-defense salvage operations under way (2009-06-09)

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. missile-defense contractors and their allies are pushing to salvage what they can of prized, multibillion-dollar programs that Defense Secretary Robert Gates is seeking to scrap or cut back.

Amid mounting concern over nuclear and missile programs in North Korea and Iran, Northrop Grumman Corp, for instance, is calling on the Defense Department to rescind a stop work order and carry out a major flight test of its Kinetic Energy Interceptor.

Once valued at $6 billion, KEI is intended to shoot down enemy missiles soon after they are launched. Its "booster flight test" had been scheduled for September. But Gates said the system had very limited capability, cost too much and would have to be fired from what he suggested was perilously close to the target.

Northrop argues it had completed 90 percent of everything needed to do the test when the Pentagon pulled the plug on May 11, part of a restructuring of missile-defense efforts that have cost taxpayers more than $100 billion overall.

"Taxpayers have invested some $1.1 billion in KEI over the last five-plus years," said Bob Bishop, a Northrop spokesman.

"It would be a shame to spend that money without a test to prove whether the technology works and forego an opportunity to gather valuable data on this first-of-a-kind, high-acceleration agile missile."

The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency is going ahead with plans to launch this summer two Northrop-built prototype satellites designed to track missiles in all phases of flight. Known as the Space Tracking and Surveillance System, it would add a space-based sensor to the layered missile defense system deployed by then-President George W. Bush in 2004.

For the 2010 budget year that starts October 1, President Barack Obama has asked Congress for roughly $7.8 billion to fund ballistic missile defense, a cut of about $1.2 billion from 2009.

The spending plan calls for greater focus on "rogue state" and "theater" ballistic missile threats in line with requests from top U.S. military commanders.

Gates also would terminate Lockheed Martin Corp's Multiple Kill Vehicle, or MKV, on the grounds it was not needed for the limited threat posed by countries such as Iran and North Korea "for the next 10 to 15 years." Under Bush administration plans, the 2010 outlay for MKV was to have been $441 million.

Lockheed spokesman Jeffery Adams, in an email response to a query from Reuters about how the company might leverage the know-how it had gained, said Lockheed "developed some very promising kill vehicle technologies for the Missile Defense Agency to include battle management algorithms, the MKV infrared sensor, and divert and attitude control systems; we would hope that these could apply to next generation kill vehicles."

With an MKV aboard, a land- or sea-based U.S. interceptor would have been meant to destroy not only an enemy warhead but any decoys or other countermeasures deployed to spoof U.S. defenses.

"It was designed to deal with a more complex threat that would have come potentially from either China or Russia," Gates told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on May 13.

In a belt-tightening move, Gates recommended sticking with the 30 underground silos for long-range missile interceptors in Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California -- instead of adding 14 more as had been planned.

Boeing Co is the prime contractor of the system, known as the ground-based midcourse defense. Top subcontractors include Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Co, Lockheed Martin and Orbital Sciences Corp.

Gates said 30 interceptors in the ground would provide a "strong" defense against North Korea. In addition, his 2010 spending plan would add $700 million to field more Raytheon-built Standard Missile-3 and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems built by Lockheed Martin.

The plan to forgo building 14 new silos for a savings of $170 million will be "challenged strongly in Congress," said Riki Ellison, head of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, an industry- and member-supported pressure group.

He said he was bringing grass-roots missile-defense advocacy leaders to Washington from 33 of the 50 U.S. states to tell Congress that Americans "are not wanting to be less protected against North Korea and Iran."

A wide range of lawmakers have argued that, with Pyongyang and Tehran demonstrating growing ballistic missile capabilities now is no time to cut U.S. long-range defenses.

"A reinvigorated national missile defense system would remind our enemies that regardless of who occupies the White House, America's commitment to its security is not negotiable," Representative John Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader of the House, said in a June 4 guest column in the Chicago Tribune.

As part of its salvage operation, Boeing hopes to spin off the directed-energy technology it has been developing as part of its Airborne Laser, a high-powered chemical laser in a 747 jumbo jet.

Gates would turn the ABL, as it is called, into a research program and cancel a second prototype aircraft. The Government Accountability Office estimates about $5 billion has been spent on ABL so far, ahead of a planned attempt to shoot down a target missile later this year.

"ABL is the pathfinder for directed energy weapons," Michael Rinn, Boeing's program director, said. He said it had shared "expertise and lessons learned" with a range of other programs.

"The true value of ABL is in developing the technologies required for useful military applications of target acquisition, precision pointing, active tracking, and beam control/fire control," Rinn added in a statement to Reuters.

Gates toured the missile-defense complex at Fort Greely on June 1, after North Korea carried out its second underground nuclear test and test-fired a barrage of short-range missiles notwithstanding international pressure not to do so.

Halting the expansion of the base's anti-missile silos, he said, was "not a forever decision."

(Reporting by Jim Wolf; editing by Dave Zimmerman)

[American Patriot]

Target Alaska: Gov. Palin Pushes SDI

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, June 01, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Security: As Defense Secretary Gates tours our missile defense site at Fort Greely, Alaska, Gov. Sarah Palin calls for restoration of the missile defense cuts. Meanwhile, North Korea points another missile at the U.S.

Read More: Military & Defense

Robert Gates' visit to our missile defense facility at Fort Greely on Monday was a pointed reminder to the North Koreans that while we have been talking softly, we still have a few big sticks in the ground ready to turn the North Korean missile program into so much scrap metal.

That is somewhat reassuring as Pyongyang moves another ICBM to the launchpad, this time at a new facility on its west coast. South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the missile had been sent by train to the newly completed missile facility of Dongchang-ni, about 40 miles from the Chinese border.

The weapon being prepared for launch is believed to be an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of up to 4,000 miles, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an unnamed South Korean official. That would put Alaska within striking range.

Gates spoke a little less softly in Singapore on Saturday, with encouraging words regarding any attempt by Pyongyang to export its technology of mass destruction.

"The transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to state or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States and its allies," he said at the annual security conference. "And we would hold North Korea fully accountable for the consequences of such action."

We hope so, for Pyongyang has already been there, done that. In 2007, Israel took out a North Korean-built, Iranian-financed nuclear plant at Damascus' al-Kibar complex in eastern Syria.

The Washington Post noted that the timing of the raid was related to the arrival three days earlier of a ship carrying North Korean materials labeled as cement but suspected of concealing nuclear equipment.

In 2002, the U.S. tracked the So Sang, a vessel of unknown registry. Spanish commandos, operating in conjunction with American authorities, intercepted and boarded the vessel. It was found to be carrying 15 Scud-B missiles hidden under sacks of concrete.

Gates believes the 30 interceptors developed, tested and deployed by his former boss, President George W. Bush, at Fort Greely and at Vandenberg AFB in California are adequate for the threat. While Gates' words are tough and the visual aids stunning, Gov. Palin, who hosted Gates' visit and whose state is on the wrong end of a Taepodong trajectory, thinks more is needed — such as the other 14 ground-based interceptors that were planned for but cut.

A statement from her office last Friday, after North Korea launched its sixth missile in less than a week, said: "Missile Defense Agency funding must be fully restored in the federal budget to guarantee our protective measures remain the best in the world." We think so too.

"The United Nations sanctions have failed to stop North Korea's development of nuclear weapons," the statement quotes Palin as saying, "and the Obama administration cannot afford to be playing catch-up to an irrational dictator like Kim Jong Il."

One response that might get North Korea's attention would be to enforce the Proliferation Security Initiative created by President Bush in 2003 after the So Sang incident. The PSI allows its 95 signatory states to inspect ships and planes for illicit weapons and materials and to seize their cargos.

South Korea, at great risk of provoking Pyongyang, announced last week that it was joining the PSI.

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, who was instrumental in creating the PSI, says the Obama administration as of recently doesn't think much of the option: "I don't think they even knew what it was."

As in the war on terror, most of our successes remain secret. But according to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the OSI was used in October 2003 to intercept nuclear-fuel centrifuge components being shipped to Libya on a German-owned vessel.

That's how you stop proliferation.

[Ryan Ruck]

U.S. Eyes Fighters for Ballistic Missile Defense

The Air Force wants to look at arming fighter jets to shoot down ballistic missiles, according to a letter from Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz to the head of the Defense Department's Missile Defense Agency.

The June 2 letter from Schwartz, addressed to the MDA director, Army Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, called for a study of arming F-15s and F-16s, and possibly F-22s and F-35s, with specialized munitions under a concept dubbed Air Launched Hit-to-Kill.

Schwartz said a 2008 war game, based in the European theater in 2020, piqued the interest of the Air Force to study the ALHK concept.

"This examination indicated several ALHK approaches may be operationally suitable for employment from Air Force fighters," Schwartz wrote.

An accompanying white paper said the growing threat of increasing ballistic missiles in smaller nations could outstrip the military's ability to overcome a missile attack.

The ALHK strategy would have roving packs of fighters, along with a support network of tankers and reconnaissance and radar aircraft to intercept missiles in rapidly established protection zones.

The paper said the mission could be carried out by F-16s and F-15s, with more study need to explore the possibility of equipping F-35s and F-22s. The fighters would be armed with two types of missiles that could bring down ballistic missiles in their launch phase or from higher in the atmosphere.

For high atmospheric interception, the paper suggested the Air Force consider a modified Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile, a 1,500-pound version of an Army ground-based missile.

For use lower in the atmosphere, the paper suggested using an Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile designed to intercept shorter-range ballistic missiles. The missiles, according to the developer, Raytheon Co., would fit into any AMRAAM-capable fighter with minimum modifications.

The request to the MDA comes on the heels of Defense Secretary Robert Gates' announced cancellation of the second Boeing Airborne Laser, a 747 derivative designed to kill ballistic missiles in their early launch phases, and recent North Korean ballistic missile tests that have raised tensions in the South Pacific.

[vector7]

STRATEGIC NUCLEAR WEAPONS: Arrow Fails Off California Coast

July 24, 2009: Israel tested its new Arrow II anti-missile system off the West coast of the United States, and the test failed. It was described as a communications problem with the interceptor vehicle. Actually, there were three failures in a week of tests. The practice warhead was provided by target missile dropped from a C-17 transport.

The two ton Arrow I is being replaced with the 1.3 ton Arrow II, which can shoot down longer range (1,100 kilometers or more) ballistic missiles fired from Iran. Israel is currently developing and testing an upgraded Arrow II, and one failed test won't halt the program. The test has to be done off the U.S. west coast because that was the only facility available to Israel for testing such a system, that requires longer range target missiles for a realistic and meaningful result.

To further complicate matters, the U.S. wants to withdraw its support for development of the Arrow system. About half the $2 billion cost of developing Arrow has come from the United States. In addition, American firms have done some of the development work, or contributed technology.

The U.S. wants to cut the several hundred million dollars it would be spending on future Arrow development, in order to save money, and allocate more resources to U.S. anti-missile systems (Aegis SM-3, THAAD and GBI). American support of Arrow was originally sort of an insurance policy, in case similar U.S. effort didn't work out. But now the U.S. is having second thoughts about cutting Arrow support, because they believe that Israel might be less likely to launch an air strike on Iranian nuclear development sites, if there were a dependable anti-missile system available to stop such Iranian missiles.

Israel has two batteries of Arrow I, and over a hundred missiles available.

An Arrow battery has 4-8 launchers, and each launcher carries a six missiles in containers. The Arrow was developed to knock down Scud type missiles fired from Syria, Saudi Arabia or Iraq. The U.S. has provided Israel with a mobile X-band radar that enables it to detect incoming ballistic missiles father away. Currently, the Israeli Green Pine radar can only detect a ballistic missile fired from Iran when the missile warhead is about two minutes from hitting a target in Israel. The X-band radar allows the Iranian missile to be spotted when it was 5-6 minutes away, enabling the Israeli Arrow anti-missile missile to hit the Iranian warhead farther away and with greater certainty. Israel also wants to buy a land based version of the Aegis anti-missile missile.

[vector7]

US failed to detect Russian submarines that launched missiles


Posted by IANS on Jul 15th, 2009 and filed under Tech.



The United States was unable to detect the presence of Russian strategic submarines in the Arctic before they test-launched two ballistic missiles, a Russian intelligence source said Wednesday.

Russia carried out test launches of two Sineva intercontinental ballistic missiles (IBMs) from two Delta IV class nuclear-powered submarines, located near the North Pole, July 13-14.

“The American radars certainly detected the missile launches but their location took them by surprise,” the source said.

The first missile, flying a ballistic path, hit its designated target at the Kura testing grounds on the Kamchatka Peninsula, while the second, fired with a flat trajectory, destroyed a target at the Chizha testing site on the White Sea.

The source said that the launch area, covered by floating ice sheets, was heavily patrolled by Russian attack submarines and the Americans were unable to detect the arrival of two strategic submarines before the launch.

“At the same time, US reconnaissance satellites are unable to detect submarines under thick ice floe in the Arctic,” he said.

The region around the North Pole is a perfect place for launches of ballistic missiles because it allows the submarines to arrive in a designated area undetected and to shorten the missile flight time to the target.

The RSM-54 Sineva (NATO designation SS-N-23 Skiff) is a third-generation liquid-propellant IBM that entered service with the Russian Navy in July 2007. It can carry four or 10 nuclear warheads, depending on the modification.

Russia plans to equip its Delta IV class submarines with at least 100 Sineva missiles.

[vector7]

Has a deal been cut?
Looks like we are pulling out.

MISSILE DEFENSE
U.S. to relocate missile defense system

US denies giving up on Europe missile shield President Barack Obama's administration denied Thursday a report it was giving up on building American anti-missile bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, plans strongly opposed by Russia. "I would call that report inaccurate," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters. "Our review of our missile defense strategy is ongoing and has not reached completion yet." Leading Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, citing officials and lobbyists in Washington, said the United States was scrapping plans to build the bases in Poland and the Czech Republic and was looking at alternatives including Israel and Turkey. Former president George W. Bush's administration came up with the missile defense plan, saying it was aimed at protecting against attacks from so-called rogue states such as Iran. Russia responded furiously at what it saw as an encroachment in the former Soviet bloc and threatened to train nuclear warheads on Poland and the Czech Republic. Bush's successor President Barack Obama, who has tried to "reset" relations with Russia, launched a review of the controversial system after taking office earlier this year. (AFP Report)

by Staff Writers

Warsaw, Poland (UPI) Aug 27, 2009
Washington may relocate the controversial missile defense system planned for Eastern Europe to the Balkans, Turkey or Israel, a Polish newspaper reports. The U.S. plan included 10 long-range interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic. That plan will almost certainly be scrapped, Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza reports.

Washington is now looking for alternative locations including in the Balkans, Israel and Turkey, the daily says, citing U.S. administration officials and lobbyists based in Washington.

"The signals that the generals in the Pentagon are sending are absolutely clear: as far as missile defense is concerned, the current U.S. administration is searching for other solutions than the previously bases in Poland and the Czech Republic," Riki Ellison, chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, a Washington-based lobby group, told the newspaper.

The system, meant to be ready by 2013, was aimed at defending the United States and its allies in Europe against nuclear attacks from rogue states such as Iran.

The Kremlin, however, says the planned location in Eastern Europe is compromising Russia's national security and a further sign of NATO's eastward expansion. Russia believes the alliance has turned from a security coalition into a geopolitical tool used by the United States to increase its political and economic clout in Eastern Europe.

Washington had promised to alleviate Russia's concerns and integrate Moscow in the system as much as possible, with proposals having included stationing Russian officers at the sites to monitor them. However, no cooperation ever materialized.

U.S. President Barack Obama has shaken up foreign policy and tried to improve ties with the Kremlin. He has previously signaled a willingness to talk about the missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, had already struck deals with Warsaw in 2008.

U.S.-Russian relations were challenged on several other fronts over the past years, with differences over human rights, the independence of the former Serbian province of Kosovo and last year's Russian-Georgian war.

earlier related report
US set to scrap Poland, Czech missile plan: report
Warsaw (AFP) Aug 27 - Washington will scrap plans to put anti-missile bases in Poland and the Czech Republic and is looking at alternatives including Israel and Turkey, a Polish newspaper reported Thursday, citing US officials.

The US plan, intended for defence against attacks from Iran, has met with fierce objections from Russia, which regarded the eastern European bases as a threat to its own security.

Leading Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza cited administration officials and lobbyists in Washington in support of its story.

Pro-missile shield lobbyist Riki Ellison said the signals from the Pentagon were "absolutely clear", with US authorities scouting for alternatives sites, the paper reported.

No immediate comment was available from US, Polish or Czech officials.
Gazeta Wyborcza said Washington was now considering deploying anti-missile interceptors on naval vessels and at bases in Israel and Turkey, as well as potentially in the Balkans.

Ellison told the paper that a conference last week, US generals "never once" mentioned the plan, which was initiated by the previous US administration of President George W. Bush.

After taking office this year, Bush's successor Barack Obama launched a review of the controversial system.

Gazeta Wyborcza cited a source at the US Congress, whom it did not identify, as saying that Washington had been "testing the water" among lawmakers for weeks about scrapping the eastern European part of the plan.

In 2008, Warsaw and Washington struck a deal on deploying 10 US long-range interceptor missiles in Poland as part of a global air-defence system.

The system, which was meant to be operational by 2013, also foresaw a radar base in the Czech Republic, Poland's southern neighbour.

Washington said the goal was to ward off potential Iranian attacks, pointing to Tehran's nuclear programme.

But Moscow condemned what it said was a US threat on its doorstep and threatened to train nuclear warheads on Poland and the Czech Republic.

Warsaw and Prague broke from the crumbling communist bloc in 1989 and joined NATO 10 years later.

(AFP Report)

[Ryan Ruck]

ABL Successfully Completes Low-Power Laser Tests Against an Instrumented Boosting Missile Target

The Missile Defense Agency's Airborne Laser (ABL) prototype aircraft successfully acquired, tracked, provided atmospheric compensation and simulated the directed energy kill sequence against an instrumented boosting missile target using three onboard low-power lasers on Aug. 10 at 9:50 p.m. PDT. The missile was launched from San Nicolas Island, located in the Naval Air Warfare Center-Weapons Division Sea Range, off the central California coast.

This marks the third successful ABL missile engagement in just over two months. The ABL previously engaged two sounding rockets with the low-power lasers – this latest test was the first time laser performance data was collected at the target missile. The Missile Alternative Range Target Instrument is similar in size and geometry to a ballistic missile, but with a section of sensors to record and measure the laser performance.

Plans call for ABL to engage progressively more difficult targets in coming months, culminating with a lethal demonstration against a boosting threat-representative ballistic missile target later this year.

[Ryan Ruck]

The disarmament continues... BMD in Poland and Czech Republic scrapped. On Fox News now.