BACK TO BRITAIN
After months of discussions with potential partners in Eastern Europe, the United States appears to be revisiting the possibility of England as a European missile defense basing site. According to The Australian (August 16), British officials have confirmed that the Pentagon has made "discreet inquiries" about whether London would accept the basing of interceptor missiles and additional early warning radars on its soil. The shift which comes amid domestic resistance in both Poland and the Czech Republic to missile defense basing, could reignite a similar debate in Britain. "A few weeks ago, it looked like we were out of the woods on this one," one British official has remarked. "That has changed because [Eastern] Europe no longer looks like such an easy option."
A NEW FOCUS FOR U.S.-ISRAELI MISSILE DEFENSE TIES
The month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon has given the already-robust missile defense ties between Washington and Jerusalem another shot in the arm. Al-Jazeera (August 16) reports that, in the wake of the just-concluded conflict, which saw the firing of hundreds of Katyusha rockets against Israeli population centers, the Israeli government is stepping up its focus on defenses against short-range missiles. As part of this effort, the Israeli Ministry of Defense is said to have recently requested information from the Pentagon regarding "Skyguard," a high-energy chemical laser system designed to destroy incoming artillery rockets and ballistic missiles. "We have been working with the Israelis... as they go through with development of their own indigenous capabilities for that threat," Lieutenant General Henry Obering, the head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, has confirmed.
CLOSING THE GAPS IN CRUISE MISSILE DEFENSE
Inside Defense (August 17) reports that the Pentagon is scrambling to patch holes in the country's emerging cruise missile defense capabilities after a recent assessment found "capability gaps" that could persist well into the next decade. Among other deficiencies, the "Integrated Air and Missile Defense Functional Needs Analysis" concluded in April by the U.S. Air Force discovered problems in the North American Aerospace Defense Command's (NORAD) capability to detect and track small, low-speed and low-altitude targets, as well as a lack of "common operating picture" between NORAD, the U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and the Air Force's Air Combat Command. In response, the Air Force has launched a multi-Command study to determine "the best approaches for mitigating high-risk joint gaps in the [Homeland Air and Cruise Missile Defense of North America] mission area."
THE LOGIC BEHIND CHINA'S MISSILE EFFORTS
China is deploying a new generation of missiles capable of providing it with a second-strike nuclear capability in the event of a conflict with the United States, a top American expert has said. "It is clear to me that China is now embarking on a significant investment in a second-strike capability to ensure the survival and, thus, viability of its nuclear forces," Richard Fischer of the International Assessment and Strategy Center told a July conference at the American Enterprise Institute in comments carried by Insight on the News (week of August 1-7). Other specialists concur. "For China, nuclear weapons largely have four purposes: one, strategic deterrence; two, retaliation; three, counter-coercion; and four, great-power status," Evan Medeiros, a senior analyst at the Rand Corporation, told the same conference.
NORTH KOREA'S MOUNTING MISSILE THREAT...
In the wake of its July 4th missile tests, the regime of Kim Jong-il is hard at work expanding its ability to threaten the United States and its allies in Asia. The Agence France Presse (August 3), citing South Korea's Yonhap news agency, reports that the DPRK is building new underground missile bases on its eastern seaboard in order to target American deployed forces in the region. "The new bases clustered along the east coastal line are for medium- and long-range missiles targeting Japan and U.S. military bases in Japan," a study by South Korea's state-run Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) cited by the news agency has confirmed. According to the IFANS study, some 200 Rodong and 50 SSN-6 missiles (with ranges of 2,200 kilometers and 2,500-4,000 kilometers, respectively) are already deployed at the new facilities.
...AND THE AMERICAN RESPONSE
The Pentagon, meanwhile, is stepping up the pace of its deployments of Aegis cruisers to the Pacific. Reuters (August 16) reports that U.S. defense officials have confirmed plans to double the current deployment of the missile defense vessels, from three to six, by the end of the year. The accelerated deployment is expected to provide the U.S. with "more options" for intercepting short- and medium-range ballistic missiles fired in the region, a top defense official has confirmed.
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