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American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, DC
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FOR AMERICAN SHIELD, A STEP BACK AT HOME... The Pentagon is still reeling from a very public blow to its missile defense effort. On December 15th, a test of the Pentagon’s Ground-based Midcourse system failed when the interceptor shut down in its silo on Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, Reuters reported the next day. The technical “anomaly” scrapped an $85 million planned intercept of a target missile fired from Kodiak, Alaska – the first such trial in over two years. In the wake of the failed GMD test, the Pentagon has gone public with more bad news – that the timetable for deployment has slipped somewhat. The December 19th edition of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that, according to officials from the U.S. Northern Command, activation of the emerging U.S. missile defense infrastructure – originally slated for late 2004 – now is not expected to take place until early 2005. ...AND A STEP FORWARD IN ASIA Japan and the United States have inked a new memorandum on missile defense cooperation, the Associated Press (December 17) reports. The deal, signed by Japanese Defense Agency chief Yoshinori Ono and the American ambassador to Tokyo, Howard Baker, lays out new steps for information-sharing and technical cooperation. The accord also sets up a new supervisory committee to steward the missile defense partnership between Washington and Tokyo. OTTAWA’S NEW TONE On the heels of President Bush’s December 1st visit, Canadian premier Paul Martin appears to be digging in his heels on participation in American missile defense efforts. In an interview to Canadian national television slated to be broadcast on Christmas Day, the Prime Minister laid out his government’s new, cooler stance on cooperation – and increasing skepticism about the effectiveness of the Bush administration’s efforts to defend the United States and its allies against ballistic missile attack. “The decision as to whether or not we participate in the ballistic missile defence system is going to depend on whether, in fact, Canada can have a voice in the structure,” the Windsor Star (December 15) reports Martin as saying. In his comments, Martin ruled out a Canadian investment in missile defense, and quashed the possibility of interceptor basing on Canadian soil. “I’m not going to put money into it. I’m going to put money into our priorities… Having missiles on our territory is not one of those priorities,” the Canadian premier said. ISRAEL: TAKING ON THE TERRORIST MISSILE THREAT The “Nautilus” may still be under development here in the United States, but officials in Israel are already eyeing a new use for the tactical high energy laser. The December 21st Jerusalem Post reports that the radar system for the joint U.S.-Israeli project, designed to neutralize artillery and short-range rockets in flight, has been brought to Israel, where it will be tested against the indigenously-developed “Kassam” rocket now in use by Palestinian militant groups like Hamas. The radar, Israeli officials hope, will enhance early warning against terrorist missile strikes, and assist the Israeli Defense Forces in pinpointing launch locations – thereby facilitating retaliatory military action. RUSSIA CONTINUES TO REARM Russia, meanwhile, is continuing to modernize and upgrade its strategic arsenal. On December 22nd, in a test reported by the Agence France Presse, Russian military forces successfully fired an SS-18 “Satan” ICBM from the Orenburg region in southern Russia toward the Kamchatka peninsula in the Russian Far East. The drill, according to Russian officials like nuclear forces chief General Nikolai Solovtsov, was designed to demonstrate “a significant part of the combat potential of Russia’s strategic forces.” The test comes just days after the Itar-TASS news agency (December 17) reported that the Kremlin is planning the formation of a new combat regiment of its Strategic Rocket Forces, which will be outfitted with the country’s advanced “Topol-M” ICBM. |
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