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Global Security Newswire
August 7, 2009

Russia yesterday said it plans to begin operating a new missile-defense radar station this fall, RIA Novosti reported…

The radar at Armavir in southern Russia would be capable of detecting incoming missiles at distances of up to 2,500 miles. It would serve to spot attacks coming from the south and southeast in lieu of outdated radars in Ukraine.

The station is undergoing tests. It “will be put into operation … in October-November this year,” said Gen. Nikolai Abroskin, director of Russia’s Federal Agency for Special Construction.

www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20090807_7548.php

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WEBWIRE – August 3, 2009

The Boeing Company played a key role yesterday in the U.S. Navy’s successful test of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) weapon system, which intercepted a ballistic missile target with a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3).

Fired from the USS Hopper, the SM-3 Block IA missile, guided by the Aegis BMD weapon system and a Boeing-built kinetic warhead sensor, engaged and destroyed the short-range ballistic missile target launched from the Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai. The test marked the 15th hit-to-kill intercept for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system’s SM-3 since flight tests began in 2002.

“This successful test further validates the maturity and reliability of the SM-3 Block IA kinetic warhead” said Debra Rub, vice president of Boeing Weapons Programs. “Through rigorous, realistic testing, the system continues on a path to provide increased capability and expand the umbrella of protection against evolving ballistic missile threats” …

www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=100552

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United Press International (UPI): Aug. 3, 2009

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has awarded MicroTech a contracted extension to continue providing telecommunications support services.

U.S. company MicroTech was awarded a more than $25 million contract extension from the Missile Defense Agency, which is responsible for directing the U.S. ballistic missile defense program. …

www.upi.com/Security_Industry/2009/08/03/Missile-Defense-awards-MicroTech-follow-on/UPI-60201249320981/

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Reuters: Aug 3, 2009
By Andrea Shalal-Esa

A joint U.S.-Japanese missile defense program being built by Raytheon Co (RTN.N) is now slated to cost $3.1 billion, $700 million more than expected, mainly due to a Pentagon decision to cancel a separate program, a top military official said on Monday.

U.S. Rear Admiral Brad Hicks, program director of the Aegis sea-based leg of an emerging U.S. anti-missile shield, said the Standard Missile 3 Block IIA ballistic missile interceptor being developed by Raytheon jointly with Japan would be a “game-changer” for the military.

Sailors had nicknamed the missile “the Beast,” he said.

North Korea’s test-firing of a ballistic missile over Japan in August 1998 spurred Tokyo to become the most active U.S. ally in building a layered shield against missiles that could be tipped with chemical, biological or nuclear warheads.

Hicks said the new SM-3 IIA missile, slated to fly in 2014, would make it possible for one ship — instead of three — to protect Japan from enemy missile attacks. The missile could even be placed on land, if needed. …

www.reuters.com/article/rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews/idUSN0352811220090803

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By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ
July 16, 2009
New York Times

Russia’s new nuclear-capable Bulava missile has failed again, the Defense Ministry said Thursday, the Ria Novosti news agency reported. The missile, which Russian officials have said would be among the world’s most advanced weapons, was test-launched from a submarine in the White Sea on Wednesday and blew up after a first-stage malfunction, the ministry was quoted as saying. Out of 11 tests, fewer than half have been at least partly successful. …

www.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/world/europe/17briefs-russiamissile.html

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Associated Press
June 21, 2009
By Arthur Max

Russia is ready for deep cuts of strategic nuclear weapons in a new deal with the United States if the U.S. eases Moscow’s concerns about plans for a missile defense system, President Dmitry Medvedev said Saturday.

Medvedev lifted hopes for progress when President Barack Obama visits Moscow July 6-9 for talks focusing on replacing the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires in December. …

“We cannot agree with U.S. plans to create a global missile defense system,” he said in a statement released by the Kremlin. “I would like to emphasize that the proposed cuts are only possible if the U.S. relieves Russian concerns. In any case, the link between strategic offensive and defensive weapons must be clearly fixed in the treaty.”

Medvedev, however, stopped short of saying the U.S. must dump missile defense plans, and the wording of his statement indicated that Russia was ready for a compromise. …

www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iZMbalTrRk_kUNXLPNp0yWJmyUZwD98UDGT00

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NTI: Global Security Newswire
June 12, 2009

Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Kinetic Energy Interceptor project is officially dead, Reuters reported yesterday (GSN, June 11).

The U.S. missile-defense project had undergone $1.2 billion of work, but fell victim to the Obama administration’s plans to cut funding for missile defense activities in the fiscal 2010 budget. The Defense Department delivered a stop work order in May and formally terminated the program Wednesday.

The Kinetic Energy Interceptor was designed to destroy enemy missiles during the early stages of flight. A major test of the technology was scheduled for September, but Defense Secretary Robert Gates argued that the system’s cost and limited capabilities made it expendable.

The project was cut “for the convenience of the government” rather than any problem with the defense contractor, according to the termination message (Jim Wolf, Reuters, June 11).

www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20090612_9681.php

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Reuters
June 17, 2009
By Dmitry Solovyov

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia hopes U.S. President Barack Obama will not pursue his predecessor’s plan to deploy weapons in space but Moscow is ready to respond appropriately to any such moves, a senior Russian general said on Wednesday.

Russia, negotiating with the United States a new treaty to curb nuclear arms to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1) expiring in December, has argued against the “weaponization of space.”

President Dmitry Medvedev, due to receive Obama next month on his first visit to Moscow, has said Russia’s conditions for new nuclear arms accords include banning arms in space. …

“As far as I know, today’s U.S. administration has somewhat different plans — they have become more down-to-earth and more realistic,” one of Russia’s deputy defense ministers Vladimir Popovkin, in charge of weapons, told a news conference.

He said Russia could find a cheap way of dealing with any potential U.S. space defense system. …

www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE55G4I820090617

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The Epoch Times – New York
Jun 14, 2009

LONDON—A planned U.S. missile shield may not strengthen Europe’s security and could hurt NATO’s interests if deployed in the face of Russian opposition, members of parliament said on Sunday.

The United States says the anti-missile system is designed to prevent potential attacks from countries such as Iran, but the plan has outraged Moscow which sees it as a threat.

Russia has urged Washington to drop its plan to put 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the Czech Republic. Both former Soviet satellites are now NATO members.

Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, made up of legislators from the main political parties, voiced reservations about the U.S. plan in a report on weapons proliferation.

“We are not convinced that, as they are currently envisaged and under current circumstances, the United States’ planned ballistic missile defence (BMD) deployments in the Czech Republic and Poland represent a net gain for European security,” it said.

“We conclude that if the deployments are carried out in the face of opposition from Russia, this could be highly detrimental to NATO’s overall security interests,” the report said.

www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/18113/

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By Nathan Hodge
June 8, 2009
Wired News – USA

The U.S. military is stepping up training and reviewing target sets in case the North Koreans decide to go to war …

As we learned last week, North Korea looks to be prepping for another long-range missile test, and South Korea has reportedly outlined plans to strike back if North Korea targets its warships. The U.S. military is also preparing for the worst; Aviation Week ace reporters Amy Butler and Dave Fulghum have an excellent rundown of stepped-up military preparations in the event North Korea follows through on its belligerent rhetoric.

Fulghum, reporting from Osan Air Base, South Korea, notes that the U.S. Air Force is identifying critical training fixes for close air support and air-to-air combat — two missions that would be critical in the first 72 hours of the fight. He also takes a close look at a first-day-of-the-war mission for joint tactical air controllers: XATK (pronounced “ex-attack”), the mission to destroy long-range, North Korean artillery.

… the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is boosting its sensor capabilities so U.S. decisionmakers will have more reaction time in the event of a missile launch or an actual attack. The U.S. military made a deliberate decision not to try to intercept a North Korean Taepodong-2 in April; it will be interesting to see if this time around … commanders deploy more missile defense assets or step up their alert.

www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/us-preps-for-possible-showdown-with-pyongyang/

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