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American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, DC
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SEA-BASED DEFENSES SURGE FORWARD In the wake of the President’s December 17th deployment announcement, the Pentagon is ramping up its focus on sea-based missile defense. According to the March 3rd Defense News, the Defense Department’s Missile Defense Agency has laid out an ambitious six-year, $4.3 billion plan to develop and field Aegis warships capable of intercepting long-range ballistic missiles. Under the plan, an initial deployment of Aegis vessels with short- range interception capabilities will occur in 2005, pursuant to the Bush administration’s directive. This will be followed by improvements to the Aegis system and the eventual fielding of additional warships equipped with medium- and eventually long-range interception capabilities by 2009. The possibility of a stand-alone Aegis naval strike force has also been aired, the newspaper reports. PAKISTAN APPREHENSIVE OVER INDIAN ARROW ACQUISITION In the wake of an Israeli proposal to New Delhi, Pakistan is expressing growing worries about India’s possible acquisition of the Arrow theater missile defense system. The Associated Press (March 4) reports that Pakistan’s Defense Minister, Rao Sikandar Iqbal, has told lawmakers that his government has raised the issue with the United States. Still, India’s integration into the Arrow project, a move which Pakistani lawmakers assert would threaten regional security in South Asia, is far from a done deal; the U.S. State Department, Iqbal told Pakistani lawmakers, has so far not approved the transfer of the joint U.S.-Israeli system – a prerequisite for the sale. AIRBORNE LASER FACES BLEAK FUTURE The Defense Department’s Airborne Laser (ABL) project has suffered an unexpected setback. Defense News (March 3) reports that the fate of the innovative anti-missile project, currently in development, is now in serious jeopardy due to excessive system weight. According to the paper, expansion of the system’s requirements beyond simple theater missile defense duties has necessitated the addition of supplemental technologies. Now, with only half of the components in place, the ABL is already heavier than the 175,000-pound limit of the Boeing 747 airplane carrying it. Options to trim the overall weight of the airborne system, such as increased power output for existing modules, are currently being explored by the Pentagon. MANILA’S MISSILE SHIELD WORRIES Despite a growing crisis on the Korean Peninsula, an important American ally has ruled out participation in Washington’s plans for an Asian anti-missile architecture. In recent days, Philippines Foreign Secretary Blas Ople, citing budgetary constraints, has indicated that Manila has no plans to join a regional missile shield. According to him, the government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo “cannot afford to participate in a missile shield expenditure program.” Ople further warned that the acquisition of such defenses by other countries carried with it the risk of a regional arms race. “If missile shields costing billions of dollars are installed in some of these countries like Japan and Korea the debate will spill over into the rest of East Asia,” ABC Radio Australia News (March 4) cites the Foreign Secretary as saying. DENMARK MOVES TOWARD BMD AS RIFT WITH GREENLAND GROWS The Danish government has given a preliminary green light to missile defense cooperation with the United States. In an official governmental report released on March 4th, Copenhagen made the case for participation in Washington’s plans for international missile defense, stating that “[i]t could be in Denmark’s own political interest to respond positively to Washington’s request, and it is not excluded that we in the long term might also want to be protected by a missile defense.” Formal approval of Denmark’s role in the Bush administration’s efforts is expected in late April or early May. Denmark’s announcement has caused an uproar in its semi-autonomous territory of Greenland. The Agence France Presse (March 5) reports that officials from Greenland’s left-wing home rule government have lodged a formal protest with Copenhagen in the wake of the Danish government’s announcement. In a public statement, Hans Enoksen, the head of Greenland’s government, denounced the decision, saying that the Danish report failed to present “different points of view” on the missile defense issue. Much of Greenland’s population opposes Danish cooperation with the U.S., which would entail controversial upgrades to the Thule radar base located on the Danish-controlled territory. |
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