Missile defense trajectory

http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20051009-101034-4149r.htm

By James Hackett
October 10, 2005


A year ago this month, after decades of debate and delay, the first
units of a national missile defense were deployed. Today, as that
defense grows, a transition from a national to a global defense is
under way. Japan, India, Australia, South Korea, Israel, Taiwan, NATO
and others are moving to acquire new or improved missile defenses.
Recently, the Republican-led Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC)
approved a defense appropriation bill that includes nearly $8 billion
for missile defense. Top priority is to complete the current
Ground-Based Missile Defense (GMD) to protect the United States, while
adding regional defenses where needed. The SAC found GMD fundamentally
sound, but in need of more rigorous testing. It added $200 million to
maintain production of GMD interceptors and allow more tests.
Much is being done to improve initial defenses. Nine interceptors
are on line in Alaska and California, and five more will be in place by
the end of this year. The battle-management, command, control and
communications systems are connected, linking the interceptors to
ground- and sea-based radars and space-based sensors.
Existing radars are being upgraded and new ones built. A
transportable X-band radar was tested against a Minuteman missile Sept.
14 and will be deployed in December. On Sept. 26, the Cobra Dane radar
on Shemya Island in the Aleutians successfully tracked an air-launched
missile on a realistic trajectory across the Pacific. The big sea-based
X-band radar, which will help distinguish warheads from decoys, is in
testing in the Gulf of Mexico and will move to the Aleutians next
spring.
U.S. and Japanese Aegis destroyers are on station in the Pacific
and Sea of Japan, watching for missiles. The Navy's new Standard
Missile-3, which will give Aegis ships the ability not just to detect
short- and medium-range missiles, but shoot them down, will soon be in
the fleet. The SAC added $75 million to accelerate this successful
program. In addition to the U.S. and Japan, South Korea and Australia
are deploying Aegis-equipped ships also able to carry missile
interceptors.
The U.S. and Japan are jointly improving the sea-based interceptor
SM-3 Block II, to defend a larger area and counter longer-range
missiles. Japan, worried about China and North Korea, will build the
second-stage rocket and design a "clam shell" nose cone, paying a large
part of development costs.
The main program to attack missiles in their vulnerable boost-phase
is the Airborne Laser (ABL), a high-energy laser weapon carried in a
747 aircraft with a global reach. ABL continues meeting its milestones
and is on schedule for a missile shoot-down attempt in 2008. The SAC
added $10 million for the ABL because of its "steady progress in the
last 18 months."
To pay for some of the increases, the Senate committee cut $111
million from the Kinetic Energy Interceptor, expressing concern about
its rationale: to develop a very high-speed interceptor to be sited
close enough to an enemy missile to intercept it in the first three
minutes or so after launch. Many think this an infeasible chimera that
would waste resources needed to complete and improve more practical
defenses.
Missile defense is needed to protect against the hostile regimes in
North Korea and Iran and deter China's use of its nuclear missiles for
intimidation. Iran's determination to develop both nuclear weapons and
long-range missiles has led many Europeans to see the value of missile
defense. The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance released a poll in early
September showing 71 percent of Europeans now favor missile defenses.
NATO plans to integrate the missile defenses of member countries so
they can communicate and operate jointly as an "alliance shield." A
U.S. missile defense site in Europe is essential for defending both
North America and Europe against missiles from the Middle East. The
Pentagon should not delay plans for a European GMD. Poland would be a
good location.
Lt. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering, director of the Missile Defense
Agency, said last month existing defenses cannot stop China's
long-range missiles. That shows the importance of Senate insistence on
getting the GMD fully deployed and providing spiral upgrades, so it can
stop long-range missiles from anywhere. The Agency should focus on
those priorities.
In the upcoming conference on the defense appropriation bill, the
House should accept the Senate's missile defense changes.

James Hackett is a contributing writer to The Washington Times and
is based in Carlsbad, Calif.

.

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