CHINA'S BMD EFFORTS ADVANCE
China is expanding its efforts to create a robust missile defense umbrella. According to South Korea's Chosun Ilbo (August 30), the PRC is increasingly making investments in lasers and kinetic energy intercept weapons, with the aim of erecting a comprehensive defense against enemy ballistic missiles. This news jives with the assessment of the most recent Pentagon report on Chinese military power, which noted that “China is proceeding with the research and development of a missile defense ‘umbrella’ consisting of kinetic energy intercept at exo-atmospheric altitudes (>80 km), as well as intercepts of ballistic missiles and other aerospace vehicles within the upper atmosphere.”
INDIA, NATO ALIGN ON MISSILE DEFENSE
Although the South Asian nation of India and the Atlantic Alliance face missile threats from very different sets of actors, there may yet be reason for them to cooperate on missile defense. The Indian government seeks to defend against the ballistic missile arsenal of neighboring Pakistan and - further afield - from Chinese missiles. NATO, meanwhile, is preoccupied with the threat posed by Iran. Nevertheless, the Times of India reports in its September 4th edition, India's efforts to develop an indigenous anti-missile platform built around its "Prithvi" interceptor, has opened up the possibility of collaboration with NATO. NATO officials confirm that they see "a repository of knowledge" in India, and believe "we can share and we can train together."
SOUTH KOREA ADDS MISSILE DETERRENT
Last November, four South Koreans were killed as a result of the North Korean regime's unprovoked rocketing of Yeonpyeong Island. The incident led Seoul to focus more intensively on its own missile capability, and the South Korean government is now purchasing Israeli systems as a way of augmenting the defense of its coastline. According to the Ha'aretz (September 6), a new $43 million deal recently struck with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defensive systems will provide for the deployment of 67 "Spike" rockets on the Yellow Sea islands of Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong. The rockets have a range of 25 kilometers, and are capable of striking hidden targets - like the entrenched artillery emplacements that the DPRK has built up along its shared coastline with the South.
REASSURING RUSSIA OVER EUROPEAN DEFENSE
The Xinhua news agency (September 9) reports that, as part of their efforts to break the long-running impasse between Europe and Russia over missile defense, NATO officials are now considering making formal guarantees to Moscow that the system is not meant to target Russian missiles. Such assurances have been given before, but Russia has made clear that it doubts their veracity. NATO officials, however, hope that a formal pledge "set out on paper” will do more to allay Russian concerns, and pave the way for progress on erecting a missile shield to protect Europe.
TURKEY SHUTS ISRAEL OUT OF EARLY WARNING
The precipitous decline of strategic ties between Turkey and Israel has bled over into the missile defense arena. The September 18th edition of Hurriyet reports that although Ankara has agreed to host early warning radars for Europe's emerging missile shield, Turkish officials have made clear that Israel will not be privy to the data and assessments thus collected. “Israel recently made an attempt to open an office at NATO [headquarters] in Brussels," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davatoglu recently told reporters. "We said we would veto this attempt and the issue was not even put on the agenda.”
NEW RUSSIAN ICBM STUMBLES OUT OF THE GATE
Russia's newest ICBM, a variant of the "Topol-M" with a projected range of over 6,200 miles, has failed in its latest trial. Defense News reports (September 28) that the unsucessful late-September test took place over northern Russia, but went awry as a result of problems with the missile's second stage. The failed test of the new "Topol" comes on the heels of several failures of the submarine launched "Bulava" intercontinental missile.