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RomaniaInsider.com
By Liam Lever
March 26, 2013

The US military has awarded a further contract for support services at the missile defense base in Deveselu, Romania. The 31-month Base Operations and Services Support (BOSS) contract has gone to to US company Exelis Systems Corporation and is worth some USD 5.7 million, according to the the US Naval Facility Engineering Command (NAVFAC) in Naples, Italy, which granted the contract.

Under the terms agreed, Exelis will provide accommodation, food services, fuel storage and dispensing, supply services, and maintenance including plumbing, electrical services, water and sewage treatment. The contract was awarded on March 19, according to the US Embassy in Romania.

The deal follows an earlier agreement worth USD 3.3 million with a local firm, SC Glacial PROD SRL, headquartered in Ilfov County. The Romanian company was contracted by the US Army Corps of Engineers Europe District to build temporary facilities for the US Ballistic Missile Defense System at the Deveselu Base, according to information published by the US Embassy in Romania.

News broke yesterday (March 25 ) that talks would restart between the US and Russia over the missile defense program, which has been a cause of friction between the two countries. Russia has opposed the plan to put interceptor missiles at various site in Eastern Europe, including Romania …

Read on: www.romania-insider.com/us-military-awards-usd-5-7-mln-contracts-for-missile-defense-base-in-romania-stalled-us-russia-talks-re-start/

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defense-update.com
March 7, 2013

Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers could join future missile intercept testing conducted by the U.S. missile defense agency (MDA), the British Ministry of Defence announced. MOD have teamed with UK industry-run Missile Defence Centre (MDC) to support the integration of Type 45 destroyers and its primary Sampson radar, as a sensor supporting ballistic missile defense networks.

The Sampson radar is part of the vessels’ Sea Viper air and missile defense system. These tests will task the Sampson radar in detecting and tracking ballistic targets but will not include actual intercepts of ballistic missiles with the Sea Viper missile system. Future integration of European sensors will come into effect when the US deploys its missile defense network in Europe, toward the second half of the decade, under the planned European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA).

The UK Missile Defence Centre was established in 2003 following signature of a Memorandum of Understanding between the UK and US on how to jointly conduct ballistic defence studies. By establishing a joint industry and MOD centre the UK government can best meet the UK’s long-term policy and research requirements. …

Read on: http://defense-update.com/20130307_british-destroyer-to-participate-in-u-s-missile-defense-trials.html

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mostlymisiledefense.com
February 25, 2013

According to the Air Force, if sequestration goes into effect, it would have to make cuts in radar operations that would have the effect of “significantly impacting national missile defense, space situational awareness, and the intelligence community.” Specifically, radar operations at Cavalier Air Force Station in North Dakota and at Earecksen Air Station, Alaska and operation the Air Force Space Surveillance System (AFSSS) would be reduced from 24 to 8 hours per day.

Would such reductions actually seriously impact U.S. missile defenses? …

Read on: http://mostlymissiledefense.com/2013/02/25/sequestration-and-u-s-missile-defensespace-surveillance-radars-february-25-2013/

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By Desmond Butler – Associated Press
February 9, 2013

Secret Defense Department studies cast doubt on whether a multibillion-dollar missile defense system planned for Europe can ever protect the U.S. from Iranian missiles as intended, congressional investigators say.

Military officials say they believe they can overcome the problems and are moving forward with plans. But proposed fixes could prove difficult. One possibility has been ruled out as technically unfeasible. A second, relocating missile interceptors planned for Poland and possibly Romania to ships on the North Sea, could be diplomatically troublesome.

The studies are the latest to highlight serious problems for a plan that has been criticized on several fronts.

Republicans claim it was developed hastily in an attempt to appease Russia, which had opposed an earlier system. But Russia is also critical of the plan, which it believes is really intended to counter its missiles. A series of governmental and scientific reports has raised questions about whether it would ever work as planned.

At a time that the military faces giant budget cuts, the studies could lead Congress to reconsider whether it is worthwhile to spend billions for a system that may not fulfill its original goals. …

Read on: http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-flaws-found-us-missile-shield-081826501–politics.html

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The Times of Israel
By Desmond Butler
February 9, 2013

One fix for multi-billion-dollar Europe-based interceptors is technically unfeasible, another could be diplomatically explosive

Secret US Defense Department studies cast doubt on whether a multibillion-dollar missile defense system planned for Europe will ever be able to protect the US from Iranian missiles as intended, congressional investigators said Friday.

Military officials say they believe the problems can be overcome and are moving forward with plans. But proposed fixes could be difficult. One possibility has already been ruled out as technically unfeasible. Another, relocating missile interceptors planned for Poland and possibly Romania to ships on the North Sea, could be diplomatically explosive.

The studies are the latest to highlight serious problems for a plan that has been criticized on several fronts. Republicans claim it was hastily drawn up in an attempt to appease Russia, which had opposed an earlier system. But Russia is also critical of the plan, which it believes is really intended to counter its missiles. A series of governmental and scientific reports has cast doubt on whether it would ever work as planned. …

Read on: www.timesofisrael.com/flaws-found-in-us-missile-shield-against-iran/

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The Hankyoreh
By Park Hyun, Park Min-hee and Jeong Nam-ku
Janury 29, 2013

China, Japan and the US expanding missile interceptor technology as tensions rise in Northeast Asia

With North Korea declaring its intention to push ahead with a third nuclear test following the United Nations Security Council resolution on its launch of a long-range rocket, it seems hardly a coincidence that the US, China, and Japan have launched their own interceptor missiles and spy satellites. As the intensity of the North Korean nuclear crisis soars and the strategic competition between the US and China, and between China and Japan, heats up in the Asia-Pacific region, military tensions are on the rise in Northeast Asia.

On Jan. 26 (local time), the US Defense Department announced that it had succeeded in a test of a missile defense system that can intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that are aimed at the continental US while they are still outside the atmosphere. This test is part of a project that is being conducted to defend the continental US from the ICBM threat posed by North Korea and Iran.

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA), a section of the US Defense Department, said, “We were successful in our launch of a three-stage ground-based interceptor (GBI) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.”

The test was conducted as part of the development of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD). A ballistic missile’s trajectory is divided into the launch phase, a middle phase when it is in outer space beyond the atmosphere, and a final phase where it enters the atmosphere once again. GMD refers to intercepting a ballistic missile in this middle phase.

“We didn’t launch a real missile to serve as a target for the interceptor,” the MDA said. “However, if such a target missile had existed, the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) that was attached to the interceptor rocket would have collided with the target and destroyed it.” …

read on: www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_international/571778.html

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Foreign Policy
By Kevin Baron
November 29, 2012

Key Senate Republicans on Thursday threw their support behind a controversial proposal to develop an East Coast missile defense site in the U.S. to defend against Iranian intercontinental ballistic missiles that do not yet exist.

During ongoing floor debate of the Senate’s fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill, New Hampshire’s Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) said she endorsed language in the House-passed bill authorizing the Pentagon to spend $100 million to study locations in the northeast United States for ICMB missile defenses. That provision was a surprise addition when the House bill emerged from the House Armed Services Committee and survived floor debate.

Ayotte introduced an amendment [along with Senator Collins and Senator Lieberman] with similar language and immediately withdrew it before a vote, instead offering her verbal support for the House bill. Ayotte argued Iran could develop a nuclear-tipped, long-range missile that could reach the United States. U.S. defenses currently would not allow for a defensive knock-down and counterattack, she argued.

“I think this is deeply troubling and we should be developing that capacity.”

Ayotte said the National Research Council recommended an additional ballistic missile site in the Northeast. “particularly against Iranian ICBM threats,s hould they emerg.” That report, however, was funded by the Missile Defense Agency and concluded the U.S. should not try to invest in defenses that attempt to strike missiles as they launch, rather ones that would have better luck with set up back on U.S. soil to catch missiles as they’re further in flight.

Ayotte also argued “some analysts” believe Iran “could develop that capacity” of long-range missiles by 2015. “I can’t imagine why we wouldn’t want to be in a position to make sure that the east coast of our country would be as protected as the West coast,” Ayotte said, specifically of Iran, which she argued was trying to acquire a nuclear weapon. …

Read on: http://e-ring.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/11/29/senate_republicans_back_east_coast_icbm_missile_defense

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Voice of Russia – UK Edition
November 3, 2012

South Korea won`t develop its own anti-missile defense system. Seoul is not interested in joining Washington’s plans to build up missile defenses in the Asia-Pacific region. The announcement comes after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta`s recent visit to the Korean Peninsula.

Officially, Seoul opposes technical aspects of the global anti-missile defense system in Asia, saying that South Korea is interested in protecting itself from missiles launched at a range of just 500-1000 km (obviously, from Pyongyang), while the US system is designed to work at a much greater range. But the real reason behind the argument is perhaps that Seoul does not want to get on its northern neighbor’s nerves, to say nothing about China as Beijing is a major opponent of the U.S. anti-missile plans in Asia.

Washington’s allies in the West seem to be fed up with the issue of US anti-missile defense plans. It looks as if they would like to distance themselves from this US project which is hardly possible amid intense pressure from the U.S. Now Washington has turned its sights to Asia. …

Read on: http://ruvr.co.uk/2012_11_03/Seoul-US-missile-defense/

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Wired.com
By Spencer Ackerman
October 17, 2012

Just in time for a presidential election in which both candidates compete to be besties with Israel, the U.S. and Israeli militaries are holding a big, high-profile exercise to practice shooting Iranian missiles out of the sky. Only neither country wants to say the exercise is about either Iran or presidential politics.

Starting in late October, the U.S. and Israel will spend three weeks jointly testing the abilities of their Patriot missile batteries, Aegis ships, networked command systems and newer interceptors to prevent everything from rockets to armed drones to long-range ballistic missiles from hitting Israel from multiple locations. It’ll be the closest operational look the U.S. has gotten thus far to Israel’s new Iron Dome system to protect against short-range missiles and rockets. About 3,500 U.S. troops will participate in what Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin, commander of the U.S. Third Air Force, called “the largest exercise in the history of the longstanding military relationship between the U.S. and Israel.”

The joint tests, dubbed “Austere Challenge 2012,” are part of a series of missile-defense drills that the U.S. and Israel schedule every two years. Only this year, there’s a contextual difference that’s hard to ignore: the prospect of an Israeli strike on Iran, which is likely to prompt retaliation from Iran and its terrorist proxies on Israel’s borders; and persistent tension between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu, which has become an issue in the politics of both countries. …

Read on: www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/10/us-israel-missiles/

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MostlyMissileDefense.com
September 27, 2012

The recent National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Report Making Sense of Ballistic Missile Defense indicates that in addition to deploying Aegis Ashore sites in Romania and Poland, the Missile Defense Agency would like to deploy a TPY-2 X-band radar at each site. Specifically the report states (in its appendix on System Cost Methodology) that: “As part of the Phased Adaptive Approach for the European missile defense system, MDA has proposed that each interceptor site location include a forward-based (FBM) AN/TPY-2 X-band radar system.” If true, this statement has several interesting possible implications about the MDA’s radar plans.

First, it would seem to provide further support for the idea, most clearly spelled out in the telephone press conference announcing the NAS Report’s release, that the Aegis radars really play a secondary role in the EPAA. As discussed in the post of September 13, 2012, in the NAS view of the European Phased Adaptive Approach, the Aegis radars primarily serve as communication relays to the interceptors, transmitting the target track data from the more powerful X-band radars.

Alternatively, it could reflect plans to co-locate a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD battery with each Aegis Ashore site, since a TPY-2 radar can be used as either a Forward-Based X-band (FBX) radar or a THAAD Battery radar. However, it is hardtop see why this would be needed, unless doubts existed about the ability of the Aegis Ashore site to defend itself from ballistic missile attack.

Secondly, if true, this statement would indicate that the supply of available TPY-2s is beginning to dwindle. The U.S. currently plans to plans to buy 11 TPY-2 X-band radars, with the last of these scheduled to be delivered in fiscal year 2015. Three of these are already deployed as FBXs in northern Japan, Israel, and Turkey. …

Read on: http://mostlymissiledefense.com/2012/09/27/ballistic-missile-defense-more-on-x-band-radar-locations-september-27-2012/

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