Missile Defense (General thread)

[Ryan Ruck]

NATO Backs Bush's Missile Defense System

President Bush won NATO's endorsement Thursday for his plan to build a missile defense system in Europe over Russian objections. The proposal also advanced with Czech officials announcing an agreement to install a missile tracking site for the system in their country.

Bush also was undaunted in his drive to see the military alliance expanded further eastward, despite facing an immediate setback.

Fellow NATO leaders rejected his appeal to allow former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia to get on a path toward membership. But Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the president will not drop the issue and plans to make a new pitch before he leaves office in January. The United States expects to raise the matter at a meeting of NATO foreign minister in December, Hadley said.

"NATO's door must remain open to other nations in Europe that share our love for liberty and demonstrate a commitment to reform and seek to strengthen their ties with the trans-Atlantic community," Bush said in brief remarks at an alliance meeting. "We must give other nations seeking membership a full and fair hearing."

The president expressed regret that NATO also declined to offer full membership at this meeting to Macedonia. The invitation was blocked by Greece, which says the country's name implies a territorial claim to its northern region, also called Macedonia.

"Macedonia's made difficult reforms at home," Bush said. "It is making major contributions to NATO missions abroad. The name issue needs to be resolved quickly so that Macedonia can be welcomed into NATO as soon as possible."

Albania and Croatia were invited to join the alliance, now currently at 26 members.

Progress on missile defense, though, represented a boon to Bush from the summit. Russia has strongly opposed the plan.

NATO leaders were adopting a communique stating that "ballistic missile proliferation poses an increasing threat to allied forces, territory and populations." It also will recognize "the substantial contribution to the protection of allies ... to be provided by the U.S.-led system," according to senior American officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the statement's release.

The statement calls on all NATO members to explore ways in which the planned U.S. project, to be based in Poland and the Czech Republic, can be linked with future missile shields elsewhere. It says leaders should come up with recommendations to be considered at their next meeting in 2009, the officials said.

Significantly, the document also calls on Russia to drop its objections to the system and to accept U.S. and NATO offers to cooperate on building it, the officials said.

The plan calls for 10 interceptor missiles based in Poland and a tracking radar site in the Czech Republic.

At a news conference in Bucharest on the sidelines of the NATO summit, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwartzenberg announced that negotiations with the Americans have been successfully completed and that a deal would be signed in early May. No U.S. official was in attendance, but the Czechs distributed a joint U.S.-Czech statement that said, "This agreement is an important step in our efforts to protect our nations and our NATO allies from the growing threat posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction."

The Poles have yet to agree to the plan.

The backing from NATO and the announcement with the Czechs provides Bush with a powerful leg up in his negotiations with Moscow over the issue.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia Demands Permanent Access To Shield Sites

Russian concerns over Washington's plan for a missile shield in Europe will only be eased if Russian officers have permanent access to the shield facilities, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

Russia says the planned shield is a threat to its own security and the row over the issue has helped to drive diplomatic relations with the United States to their lowest point since the Cold War.

Moscow has, however, agreed to consider a set of confidence-building measures proposed by Washington to allay Moscow's concerns.

"In all these many proposals we are interested only in two things: the permanent presence of our officers and reliable technological means of monitoring (activity at the sites)," Lavrov said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio station.

"For us it is important that we should see second-by-second where that radar is looking, and what is happening at the ... base in the Czech Republic."

Sticking Point

He said this demand was a sticking point in negotiations with Washington over the shield.

"In the proposals which we have received (from U.S. negotiators) ... there is no mention of a permanent presence, it says that officers can be posted to the Russian embassies in Poland and the Czech Republic and work at these sites on the basis of reciprocity," Lavrov said.

He said without permanent access to the sites, "this whole scheme of providing these measures for improving confidence is rendered worthless."

Asked to respond to Lavrov's comments, Tomas Pojar, the Czech Republic's deputy foreign minister, said: "A permanent presence is not something we would be considering."

"If Russians really care about transparency, it could be secured by a combination of several methods ... We offered liaison officers with access to the base," Pojar told Reuters.

The United States plans to deploy a radar in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland.

Washington says the missile shield in Europe is needed to protect from missile strikes by what it calls "rogue states," specifically Iran.

Moscow says it believes the radar will be used to monitor its territory and has called the U.S. plan a threat to the fragile balance of forces in Europe.

An informal summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush on Sunday failed to bridge the main differences on the shield.

But Putin said after the meeting he felt Washington had heard Moscow's concerns and expressed hope that adequate confidence-building measures would help allay them.

[American Patriot]

Powerful new satellite to debut over Pacific
The Guardian (UK) ^ | April 10 2008 | Jim Wolf

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, April 10 (Reuters) - The United States is set to start operating a powerful new military communications satellite over the Pacific next week, the first of a planned six-satellite network that will boost data flows 10-fold, the Air Force Space Command said Thursday.

(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...

[American Patriot]

U.S. Connects Israel to Missile Defense System
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Ne...sh.aspx/144990 ^

(IsraelNN.com) The United States has agreed to connect Israel to its early warning ballistic system to be deployed in case of an Iranian missile attack, a military source told the French news agency AFP. The worldwide radar system helped Israel during the Gulf War in 1991 when Iran attacked Israel with Scud missiles.

The agreement follows two trips to the U.S. by two senior Defense Ministry officials, Director General Pinches Bukhris and ministry adviser Amos Gilad.

[Ryan Ruck]

Navy Shoots Down Missile Off Kauai

A ballistic missile was intercepted by the US military in a test Thursday near Hawaii. The test involves the Aegis Ballistic BMD Weapon System, which is designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles in flight. The test was conducted and cooperatively managed by both, the Navy and Missile Defense Agency (MDA) on Thursday.

This was the first sea-based test that was conducted by the military since February, where a US spy satellite was shot down.

A target was fired from a mobile platform, within the confines of the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) about 100 miles off the island of Kauai. The Scud-like missile was within a few hundred miles range and was intercepted by the USS Lake Erie.

The USS Lake Erie fired two interceptor missiles at the target. About 12 miles above the Pacific Ocean, the missile was shot down in its final seconds of flight.

The navy cruiser that is currently based at Pearl Harbor has radar that searches and detects the target as it enters the radar's search sector.

[American Patriot]

US, Czech Republic sign missile defence deal

1 hour, 16 minutes ago

PRAGUE (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg signed a bilateral missile defence agreement in Prague on Tuesday allowing a US tracking radar on Czech soil.

Washington wants the radar, twinned with interceptor missiles in neighbouring Poland, to counter the threat of an attack from "rogue" states such as Iran.

But the planned US missile shield deployment in two former Soviet-bloc states has roused hostility in Russia, which says the project is a threat to its own security.

The agreement still has to be approved by the Czech parliament.

[American Patriot]

US and Czechs sign defence deal
BBC News ^ | July 8, 2008

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has signed a deal to base part of Washington's controversial missile defence system in the Czech Republic.

The deal, signed in Prague, allows a tracking radar base to be set up.

The plans remain unpopular in the Czech republic, and the US has also failed to reach agreement with Poland on housing other parts of the system there.

Russia is strongly against the missile defence system, saying it would pose a threat to its security.

Moscow has threatened to aim its own missiles at any eventual base in Poland or the Czech Republic.

'Constructive talks'

Ms Rice said that she had earlier held constructive talks with Poland's foreign minister, but declined to predict whether the US and Poland would reach an agreement.

"We have told them what we can do... There are still some issues, so I can't say for certain what the trajectory is, but it was a constructive meeting," she said after talks on Monday with Radek Sikorski in Washington.

The missile defence system would include the tracking radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland. The US wants the sites to be in operation by about 2012.

A second deal covering the status of US soldiers at the Czech base has not been agreed.

Czech opposition parties have strongly criticised the plans and are calling for a national referendum.

The plans would have to be approved by the Czech Parliament, where the government would need the votes of the opposition parties to get them through.

Jan Majicek, of the No Bases Initiative, said that more than 100,000 people had signed a petition against the Czech base.

[Brian Baldwin]

Slip a couple hundred billion dollars to Poland so they can buy our military equipment and troop training... Do that a few times over the course of a year and they'll be set when Russia rattles sabres at them.

[American Patriot]

Czech Mate
IBD Editorial ^ | July 9, 2008 National Security: Russia's threat to target Prague in response to our missile defense deal with the Czech Republic shows why such a security system is needed and why Barack Obama should not be president.

---

Russia on Tuesday reacted to the signing of a formal agreement to locate U.S. missile defense radars in the Czech Republic with bluster reminiscent of the Cold War. "We will be forced to react not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods," its Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The radars are designed to work with missile interceptors to be stationed in Poland to intercept nuclear-tipped missiles launched at NATO from Iran. Moscow claims it will destabilize European security and is a hostile move aimed at Russia. It is not. It will enhance NATO and U.S. security, which is the whole point.


Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hailed the agreement as a step forward for international security. "Ballistic missile proliferation," she noted, "is not an imaginary threat."


In fact, at least 27 countries now have active missile programs, including some with hostile intent that actively support terrorist groups. Iran qualifies as both.


(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...

[eversman]

Buttcrack Obama has very few ideas of his own, on his own. what few he DOES have are hair-brained, half-baked and ill-thought out. His only saving grace is his good looks, marketability, and his ability to read well from a teleprompter.

To say he is ill-suited to deal with foreign policy decisions is the understatement of the decade. clearly, he is incapable of assessing real danger, coming up with a coherent strategy for dealing, and of taking any action that is rooted in anything approaching logic. He is a classic liberal espousing nothing more than feel good ideas, and classic liberal viewpoints with little in the way of substance and thought.

GO McCain. woot.




ev

[American Patriot]

Obama's Missile-Sized Conflict
by Peter Huessy
Posted: 07/16/2008

Iran test launched salvos of missiles capable of reaching most of the Gulf region, Israel, US forces in the region and parts of Europe last week. Senator Obama was asked if he were President and such rockets were shot off what he would do. He explained Bush era failures accounted for the aggressive Iranian action, He then said he would gather intelligence. Then he would reach out, and engage in “tough diplomacy” with Tehran. So there it was, blame America first.

But some went beyond the “whose to blame” story and asked a rather reasonable follow-up question. Wouldn’t the Iranian missile launches give credence to the idea of building a missile defense against such attempts at coercion and blackmail? Time Magazine said Senator Obama supports missile defense, despite the charge of the McCain campaign that the putative Democratic Presidential nominee was “soft” on the issue. It is true that Obama supports the Israeli Arrow ballistic missile program? How nice; the Arrow is already deployed in Israel. He also supports further cooperation with Israel on missile defense. In fact the current defense budget moving through Congress contains funds for further US-Israel missile defense work, but to defeat relatively short range rockets being fired into Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah, from Gaza and southern Lebanon.

The Illinois senator has also said he wants to eliminate missile defense programs that don’t work. It appears if he had been in Congress in the 1980s when Arrow was first being developed he would have eliminated the program. The first dozen tests were failures to one degree or another. The Reagan administration had difficulty persuading Congress that the program needed to go on. The father of the program, Dr. Uzi Rubin, now retired from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, says then it was really touch and go. Years later the program proved itself. There have now been nearly two dozen test successes in a row.

Obama then says we should only deploy a missile defense system if it works and it doesn’t “divide” anyone. We can’t know what this means, because -- like so much Obama says -- it defies definition. Presumably, a defense “divides” the defending nation from an aggressor. Perhaps that’s what makes Obama uncomfortable. But his words may refer to the planned Polish and Czech deployment of interceptors, (still under negotiation) and a tracking radar, (now agreed to) both to be done in cooperation with the United States and fully supported by NATO. This is really ironic because with nuclear weapons, the Senator is opposed to testing them but he assumes they will work.

On whether the European deployment divides anyone, should no US military policy be undertaken unless it receives the blessing of the foreign diplomatic community? Isn’t this an echo of the “international test” so cherished by Senator John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential campaign? Think back. There was widespread opposition to President Reagan’s deployment of Pershing and GLCM missiles in Europe in response to the Soviet deployment of SS-20s. Not only was the opposition widespread, the Soviets put some $300 million into the campaign to stop the American and allied efforts. If we had used Obama’s test, the Cold War would still be going on.

There is a real problem with saying unless a US policy meets with the approval of the nuanced-minded diplomats, say in Europe, it does not go forward. This isn’t just out-sourcing your foreign policy: it’s surrendering sovereignty to others. And how unanimous does the approval have to be? Do China, Russia, Iran and Zimbabwe get a vote? In short, Senator, why does US defense and military policy require the moral approval of such ethical giants as Iran and North Korea, or say a France under Chirac or Russia under Putin?

Let’s just connect the dots here: Russia shared missile technology with North Korea and Iran. The technology gets produced in the form of rockets such as the Shahab 3, recently tested, with a range in the neighborhood of 2000 kilometers, putting even Europe in the rockets’ range. The Iranians have further tested a new multi-stage solid fueled rocket with a range that may approach 4000 kilometers, to say nothing of the BM-25, also indirectly from Russia, which Iran has but has not deployed which has a similar range. This is what missile defense “critics” call “a threat that doesn’t exist”.

Obama wants us to test any defense before it is deployed and make sure it works. Fair enough. But then he wants it to make everyone happy, an artifact of Rodney King diplomacy: why can’t we all just get along? Well, if there was ever a lesson from past presidents, it is certainly that you can’t make everyone happy and it is definitely not the job of the US President to do so. It is a tough job because it requires tough decisions. And the decisions are tough because there is widespread disagreement.

Since Iran is deploying these rockets for purposes of blackmail, coercion and top-cover for its terrorism, the next US President should have a plan to protect America’s security and those of our allies. Part of that plan is the deployment of needed missile defenses. The Bush administration has now deployed multiple hundreds of such interceptors here and abroad. By the middle of the next decade, that number should reach close to two thousand. Senator McCain has steadfastly supported these efforts from his first days in the Congress. Obama keeps trying to spin things to blame America first. How about, for a change, protecting America first?

[American Patriot]

Iranian Threat Justifies Missile Defense, General Says
American Forces Press Service ^ | Jim Garamone

WASHINGTON, July 15, 2008 – Iran’s launch of a missile with a 2,000-kilometer range last week is a concrete example of the threat the world faces from missile proliferation, the chief of the Missile Defense Agency said here today. Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry A. “Trey” Obering, said the United States is concerned specifically about the threat posed by developments North Korea and Iran are making in their missile programs. “Iran is working on an extended-range version of the Shahab-3 and a new 2,000-kilometer medium-range ballistic missile, which they term the Ashura,” the general said at a news conference. Iran also claimed that it had successfully launched an exploratory space vehicle in February, which, analysts concluded, also was a Shahab-3. Last week, Iran launched several short- and medium-range ballistic missiles capable of striking Israel and the U.S. bases in the Middle East. Longer-ranged missiles are capable of striking Europe. The U.S. concern with the spread of the technology was such that the current and previous administrations invested in fielding the missile defense program. “We needed to protect the United States and then to expand that protection for our deployed forces and our allies and friends in the European theater,” Obering said. The layered missile defense strategy melds boost-phase defense, mid-course defense and terminal-stage defense together. Various systems from ground-based interceptors, to airborne lasers to sea-based platforms provide protection against a rogue regime trying to launch one or two missiles at the United States or its allies. U.S. officials are making great progress in integrating the missile defense systems with NATO programs, the general said. Obering discussed some of the systems’ successes. “In the boost phase, we've had great success with the airborne laser,” he said. The laser is mounted in a Boeing 747 and fires through the nose of the aircraft to destroy missiles just launching. “We have generated the power that we needed on the ground in a 747 fuselage mock-up, and we've also flown the aircraft,” he said. “We've demonstrated the tracking laser performance and an atmospheric compensation laser performance. All that goes together to show that we can shoot down a boosting missile. And we're on track to do that next year in a flight test.” Thirty interceptor missiles at bases in Alaska and California make up the only defense the United States has against long-range missiles, Obering said. As time goes on, the general said, U.S. defense planners are concerned where countries like Iran and North Korea will go. They worry that the missile proliferators will develop more and more complex countermeasures to go along with their missiles. The agency is working to counter those moves, the general said. Terminal-phase defense soon will receive another arrow in the quiver, as the agency prepares to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense system. The THAAD, which will come on line in the next year, shoots down missiles just inside and outside the atmosphere. Other agency projects include the launch of two space-tracking and surveillance system satellites and a test of missile interceptors scheduled July 18, Obering said. Tests have indicated the systems are working. “Overall, since 2001, we have now conducted 35 of 43 successful hit-to-kill intercepts,” Obering said.

Biographies:
Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry A. “Trey” Obering III
Related Sites:
Transcript: Lt. Gen. Henry Obering Briefing
Missile Defense Agency

[American Patriot]

And so it goes.... thus we must close down missile defense because the BELOW is the REAL threat to America... OKAYTHEN!

OBAMA: NUCLEAR TERRORISM IS ``GRAVEST DANGER'' TO US
deutsche presse via email, no url | 7/16/8

Washington (dpa) - Barack Obama Wednesday charged that the Bush administration has failed to confront the threat of nuclear terrorism and vowed that if elected president, he would lead the effort to corral errant nuclear materials and stay one step ahead of biological and cyber threats.

Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, aimed to bolster his credentials on national security with the gathering organized by his campaign - billed as a summit on 21st Century threats at Purdue University in Indiana.

While Obama is seen as strong on major domestic issues such as health care and the economy, polls show the electorate believes Republican Senator John McCain, a downed Navy pilot in Vietnam, is stronger on security and military issues.

Obama called nuclear terrorism ``the gravest danger we face.'' He called President George W Bush to task for spending nearly 1 trillion dollars on the war in Iraq, which had no active nuclear programme, while 50 tons of highly enriched uranium at civilian nuclear facilities around the world often is ``poorly secured.''

``Now, we worry - most of all - about a rogue state or nuclear scientist transferring the world's deadliest weapons to the world's most dangerous people: terrorists who won't think twice about killing themselves and hundreds of thousands in Tel Aviv or Moscow, in London or New York,'' Obama said.

Obama vowed to ``lead a global effort to secure all loose nuclear materials around the world'' during his first term as president, to further negotiate with Russia to achieve ``deep reductions'' in global nuclear arsenals and to pressure the US Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

Obama charged that the nuclear, biological and cyber threats of the 21st century ``have been neglected for the last eight years'' under Bush.

The Bush administration can point to some successes, including its role in securing Libya's 2003 agreement to dismantle its nuclear weapons and North Korea's recent overtures to follow suit. The White House has kept up steady pressure for years to get Iran to dismantle its uranium enrichment programme.

Under Bush, the US has supported efforts to denuclearize former Soviet states, and the president also launched the Proliferation Security Initiative, an international agreement to cooperate in the interdiction of illicit transfers of missile and weapons of mass destruction technology.

Obama also spoke of the threat from bio-terrorism, saying he would launch a government-wide effort and a partnership to invest 5 billion dollars over three years to forge an international effort to ``interdict dangerous bio-weapons'' around the world.

The vulnerability of computer information networks that are the ``backbone'' of the economy, national security and ``our personal well-being'' would become a top priority for Obama as president.

``I'll declare our cyber-infrastructure a strategic asset, and appoint a national cyber advisor who will report directly to me,'' Obama said.

The Indiana ``summit'' on security included top experts on nuclear non-proliferation, bioterrorism and cyber security such as former Democratic Senator Sam Nunn, who heads the nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative, and has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate.

[American Patriot]

US sees first airliner flight with laser defences
The Register ^ | July 17, 2008 | Lewis Page

US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) trials of laser missile-dazzler defences on airliners have passed another milestone, with armaments maker BAE Systems announcing that its "JetEye" gear has made its first scheduled passenger flight. The JetEye-equipped plane, a Boeing 767 operated by American Airlines, made a routine trip from New York to Los Angeles.

"BAE Systems worked closely with DHS and the airline industry to develop an effective response to potential terrorist threats," said Burt Keirstead, JetEye program director for BAE Systems in New Hampshire. "It took a combination of ingenuity and perseverance to get to this point, and everyone involved is proud of the results."

Two further American 767s will also be equipped with JetEye for the trial, which is designed to find out the effects of the gear on airline operations and finances. The planes will fly with the new equipment until 2009, and BAE is keen to emphasise that "there will be no live-fire testing during these flights".

Many in the airline industry fear that rules requiring passenger flights to be so equipped would lead to unacceptable costs. It is feared that JetEye type systems - in addition to their own not inconsiderable purchase and maintenance price - might adversely affect aircraft fuel economy. The missile defences might also be unreliable, meaning that airliners would spend more time on the ground not earning money. Industry bodies have previously estimated the total cost of protecting the worldwide transport fleet at $20bn or more.

The threat that JetEye is intended to guard against is that from shoulder-fired homing anti-aircraft missiles, so-called MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defence Systems). These are much more difficult to make than basic antitank rockets, as the missile must be faster and able to track the hot jet exhausts of its target. JetEye works by tracking the missile's own exhaust trail and dazzling its seeker head using an infrared laser.

Owing to their relative sophistication, MANPADS - especially modern ones with decent performance - are rare and difficult to obtain as terrorist weapons go. Furthermore, as a MANPADS can generally reach only to 10,000-foot altitudes, it is only a threat to an airliner during landing and takeoff.

Nonetheless, many Western intelligence agencies believe such weapons to be a credible threat to airliners. Israeli flights were targeted above Kenya in 2002, and a British military helicopter was shot down above Basra in 2006. It is believed that Russia has sold fairly modern SA-14 MANPADS to Iran, and that these may since have been passed on. It is normal for Iran to supply weapons to various nations and groups, including Syria and Shi'ite organisations in both Lebanon and Iraq. One of these SA-14s was reportedly used to shoot down the British Lynx above Basra.

Even so, MANPADS attacks remain rare even in the conflict zones of the Middle East. In the US and Europe they have rarely even been rumoured - though there was a MANPADS intelligence scare in London during 2003, resulting in troops deploying at Heathrow.

For now at any rate, you'd have to be exceptionally unlucky to be in an airliner targeted by a terrorist MANPADS - and then just as lucky to be in one of the few equipped with JetEye. The DHS and BAE plainly see both these things becoming more common. ®

[Ryan Ruck]

Poland Urges Closer U.S. Ties After Russia Shield Comment

Russia's angry response to U.S. plans to build a missile shield underlines the need for Europe to seek closer security ties with the United States, a top aide to Polish President Lech Kaczynski said on Wednesday.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in Japan on Wednesday that Moscow was very upset after Washington signed a deal with the Czech Republic on placing a tracking radar on Czech soil as part of the shield project and would consider how to retaliate.

Washington also wants to install 10 interceptor missiles in Poland, but Warsaw has sought in return billions of dollars in U.S. investment to upgrade its air defences. Last week Poland rejected a U.S. offer as insufficient and talks are continuing.

"(Russia's reaction) proves we need to strengthen our alliance with the United States because beyond our eastern border there are politicians who use a language we thought had vanished many years ago, the language of might and imperial ambitions," presidential aide Michal Kaminski said.

"It is absolutely unacceptable for one country to threaten another for acts that are not aggressive in character. The eventual construction of the shield is not directed against Russia," Kaminski told a news conference.

NATO allies Poland and the Czech Republic were once part of the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact and remain distrustful of their former communist-era overlord.

Poland's President Kaczynski, a conservative who has long favoured closer ties with the United States, has been critical of the centre-right government's tough negotiating stance over the missile shield.

The United States says the planned shield is needed to protect its European allies against possible attack by what it calls "rogue states", particularly Iran, or by terrorist groups.

Russia, acutely sensitive to any Western military build-up near its borders, views the project as a direct threat to its security and has threatened to point missiles at the Czech Republic and Poland if the deployment goes ahead.

"We are extremely upset by this situation," Medvedev told reporters in Japan during a summit of the Group of Eight leaders also attended by U.S. President George W. Bush.

[American Patriot]

New Russian anti missile laser being displayed abroad
businewes ^ | 7/18/08 | businwess

A laser which stops guided missiles from hitting aircraft is for the first time being displayed abroad. Its Russian producer expects to sell hundreds to civilian as well as military aircraft operators on growing concerns about terrorist attacks.

Defence experts call homing missiles the biggest threat to aircraft today. The CIA claims America's supply of Stinger missiles to the Mujahideen turned the course of the Afghan War against Russia. Now, a new Russian anti-missile system is being shown abroad for the first time. The Manta laser's attached to the aircraft and blocks or "jams" guided missiles.

(Excerpt) Read more at russiatoday.com ...

[Ryan Ruck]

Sit on it and spin Gorby!

Gorbachev Worries About Missile Plan

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said Wednesday that he viewed a U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense shield in Central Europe as targeting Russia, not Iran.

"(On Tuesday) Milos Zeman, the former Czech prime minister, said, 'What kind of Iran threat do you see? This is a system that is being created against Russia,'" Gorbachev said. "I don't think Zeman is alone in seeing this. We see this as well as he sees it."

The United States wants to place a radar station in the Czech Republic and intercepter missiles in Poland, saying the components would defend European allies against a possible Iranian strike.

Gorbachev, 76, whose policies of glasnost and perestroika - openness and restructuring - helped end communism in the Soviet Union and its satellites, criticized the high level of military spending by the United States.

"Does America intend to fight the rest of the world, does America need to build a new empire? They will not succeed," Gorbachev said at the close of a meeting of the World Political Forum, a group he founded in 2003 that includes many former high-ranking politicians.

Gorbachev, who won the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize, said negotiations with Iran needed to continue with the involvement of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, to ensure Iran did not produce nuclear weapons.

Gorbachev said he hoped the United States would not attack Iran during the remainder of the term of U.S. President George W. Bush.

"There still one year that President Bush has on his hands. Let's hope that he will not take the risk... of military action against Iran," Gorbachev said, adding that such an attack "at the very least" could provoke increased terrorist attacks, an energy crisis and "even result in a big war."

Asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin, Gorbachev said that, while he initially had doubts about Putin being able to lead Russia, he now supported him.

"Putin is a very capable person, a wise person, a man of strong character, of few words but with good management skills," Gorbachev said. "Now he is more than just a manager, he has become a credible political leader."

Gorbachev added that he supported the Russian president because Putin's policies were consistent with his own social-democratic positions,

"Putin is pursuing policies that benefit the majority of the Russian people," Gorbachev said.

[American Patriot]

US considers deploying missile defense radar to Israel
AFP ^ | 07/29/08

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has agreed to explore deploying a powerful missile defense targeting radar in Israel, a senior US defense official said Tuesday.

"The idea here is to help Israel create a layered missile defense capability to protect it from all sorts of threats in the region, near and far," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Gates discussed the Israeli request Monday in a meeting with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the official said.

Besides the radar, Gates also agreed to explore sharing missile early warning launch data, as well as US funding for two costly Israeli projects designed to counter short-range rockets and mortars, he said.

The official said deploying the X-band radar was a near-term proposition, adding "all this is moving pretty quickly."

"We are going to station this land-based system there, and the Israelis would plug into it," said the official.

An X-band radar is a powerful phased array radar that can target the warhead of a long or medium range missile in space. The United States has deployed one in Japan and plans to install a larger X-band radar in the Czech Republic.

The official linked the assistance to the US administration's push for progress on a roadmap for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

But it appeared to be more directly related to Israel's concern about Iran's nuclear program.

"A policy that consists of keeping all options on the table must be maintained," Barak told Gates, according to the Israeli defense ministry.

"Iran's plans pose a threat to regional and global stability. We insist that it is vital to continue tightening the economic and financial sanctions imposed on the Iranians," he said.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell reaffirmed US preference for a strategy that combines economic and political pressure on Tehran to give up its uranium enrichment program.

"I think the Israelis are keenly aware that we believe the best possible avenue of dissuading the Iranians from pursuing nuclear weapons is through economic and political pressures," Morrell said.

"We certainly understand that the Israelis view a nuclear Iran as an existential threat -- they have made that abundantly clear to us, to the world. And we are working diligently to prevent that from happening," he said.

"But the way we are focusing our efforts is on diplomatic, economic, financial pressures," he said.

Morrell added that "a military option is always available to us. It's not our first choice."

Despite the difference in emphasis, Morrell said the two sides had a "shared strategic vision and a common understanding of the threats to the Middle East and emanating from it."

Gates assured Barak that they would explore providing Israel with additional defensive capabilities, Morrell said. But the press secretary would not say what they were.

An Israeli statement said Gates had promised to explore providing a forward deployed missile defense radar, missile early warning launch data, and counter-measures against short-range rockets and mortars.

[Brian Baldwin]

I figure Obama will do one of two things if he wins the presidency... He'll either cater to the extreme left and send us into another civil war by the end of his first term along with all that comes with that or he'll go status quo and do it badly sending us into a recession like his bed buddy Carter did. (in all fairness we were headed that way when carter took office) Still...

[Jag]

http://www.afspc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123110542

Missile successfully launches from Vandenberg A Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile successfully launches at 1:01 a.m. Aug. 13 from North Vandenberg AFB. The missile was configured with a National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA, test assembly in which three unarmed re-entry vehicles traveled approximately 4,220 miles to their pre-determined targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The launch was a throw-back to years past in which a maintenance task force from an operational missile wing, in this case the 341st Missile Wing from Malmstrom AFB, Mont., performed jobs unique to test operations while validating the work they perform at the northern tier bases. (U.S. Air Force photo/Joe Davila) Download HiRes Story Tools Printable story E-mail story by 2nd Lt. Raymond Geoffroy 30th Space Wing Public Affairs 8/13/2008 - VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- A Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile configured with a National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA, test assembly was launched from North Vandenberg at 1:01 a.m. Aug. 13. The launch was an operational test to determine the weapon system's reliability and accuracy. The missile's three unarmed re-entry vehicles traveled approximately 4,220 nautical miles to pre-determined targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. "The unique part of this mission was the incorporation of a maintenance task force from an operational missile wing," said Capt. Steve Bonin, launch director for the mission. Operational tasks were conducted by maintenance and operations task force personnel from the 341st Missile Wing, Malmstrom AFB, Mont. In the past, maintenance teams from missile wings supported the missile testing mission here; however, the program was discontinued several years ago. This mission marks a return to this model in which the maintenance task force has the opportunity to perform jobs unique to test operations while validating the work they perform at the northern tier bases. "For me, the unique part of this launch was seeing all the moving pieces coming together," Captain Bonin said. "We had maintenance and operations teams from up north working together with us in the squadron; the coordination we did with the 30th Space Wing who manages the range; as well as the Army and the Navy who supported the mission downrange." Members of the 576th Flight Test Squadron installed tracking, telemetry and command destruct systems on the missile to collect data and meet safety requirements. "I'm very proud of the team of professionals involved in making this test a success." said Lt. Col. Lesa Toler, 576th FLTS commander. "Their technical expertise, dedication and adherence to 'perfection as the standard' have ensured our nation's ICBM fleet is capable and extremely accurate." The data collected will be used by the entire ICBM community, including the U.S. Strategic Command planners and the NNSA/Department of Energy laboratories. Since its founding in 1958, Vandenberg has shouldered the responsibility of testing and improving the nation's ICBM fleet. In the past, Team V has proven the Thor, Atlas, Titan, Peacekeeper, Minuteman I and Minuteman II weapon systems. In doing so, Vandenberg's Airmen helped maintain strategic stability for the past 50 years. Today the 576th FLTS and 30th SW carry on this heritage through the testing and systematic improvement of the Minuteman III weapon system. "For the past 50 years Vandenberg has been at the forefront of testing and improving American ballistic missiles," said Col. David Buck, 30th SW commander. "Thanks to the hard work of Team Vandenberg, we continue a proud legacy of assuring the readiness and reliability of our ICBM fleet." Despite 50 years of consistent testing and progress, the critical mission of demonstrating and advancing a key Air Force deterrent remains a unique and challenging venture for today's Airmen. "I've supported five test launches and with each one I learn more and more about the Minuteman III," Captain Bonin said. "There's always something new." Jag