A NEW ROLE FOR ISRAEL...
The United States could soon reap significant dividends from the missile defense successes of its chief Mideast ally. Ha'aretz (June 20) reports General Patrick O'Reilly, the head of the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency, as saying that Israel's increasingly robust missile defense grid - now incorporating the successful "Iron Dome" system as protection against rockets and short-range missiles - could become the backbone of a "regional defense array" now being contemplated by the United States. The paper, citing a recent interview conducted by O'Reilly with Defense News, outlines that the scheme currently on the table in Washington would make Israel a key element in defending America's regional allies in the Persian Gulf and Levant from ballistic missile attack.
...AS INTEREST IN "IRON DOME" SPREADS TO ASIA
Israel's new defense against short-range missiles and rockets contrinues to draw accolades - and attention from the international community. According to the Israeli business daily Globes (July 14), at least three foreign nations are now interested in acquiring the anti-missile system for their own uses. One is the United States, which has come to see the system - which it itself partially subsidized - as a promising answer to the missile threats confronting deployed U.S. forces abroad. The other two are Asian nations (unnamed by the business daily), opening up the possibility that the system could soon find "a potential market of hundreds of millions of dollars" in Asia.
A GAME-CHANGING CHINESE MISSILE ON THE HORIZON
The U.S. has yet another reason for concern over China's ongoing military modernization: the PRC’s Dongfeng-21D (DF-21D) anti-ship missile. While Chinese officials like Gen. Chen Bingde, Chief of the PRC's General Staff, have attempted to downplay the maturity of the missile, U.S. military planners are increasingly concerned by the capabilities of the new anti-access weapon, which is believed to be approaching deployment. Aviation Week (July 12) reports that Chinese estimates place the range of the nuclear-capable battleship killer at 2,700 kilometers - nearly double that previously estimated by the United States. The expanded range makes the DF-21D a potential game-changer for U.S. force posture in the Asia-Pacific, with the ability to hold U.S. aircraft carriers at risk from a far greater distance than previously thought possible.
A MISSILE DEFENSE STALEMATE IN EUROPE
After what appeared to be a promising dialogue at the November 2010 Lisbon summit, Russia and NATO are now mired in disagreements over the creation of a missile defense system to defend Europe. RIA Novosti (July 4) reports that the Atlantic Alliance hopes that it and Russia can build separate systems that will be capable of sharing information on ballistic missile threats and responses. Moscow, however, "favors a joint system with full-scale interoperability." The result is that the two are at loggerheads over how to proceed. "It won't be a big secret to say that agreement will not be reached on a sectoral approach," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed to reporters during the NATO-Russia Council meeting in Sochi.
Officials in Brussels, however, are putting on a brave face. "Many key issues still need to be addressed. We never said we would agree on missile defense overnight, or even in a few months," NATO Secretary General Anders Fog Rasmussen has said. "We are determined to keep up the dialogue and to keep up the work. And we are making progress in matching our visions of the missile defense project."
IRAN BUILDS ITS MISSILE CAPABILITIES
The Islamic Republic of Iran continues to expand its strategic arsenal. The Jerusalem Post (July 15) cites Uzi Rubin, Israel's foremost missile defense expert, as saying that Iran's investments in its ballistic missile program have allowed the Islamic Republic to pull ahead of its sometime ally, North Korea, in the development of long-range missiles. According to Rubin, the "Great Prophet" war games carried out by Iran in July included the demonstration of a new ballistic missile. the Fateh-110, that had been converted for use against naval targets - a "significant breakthrough" which provides Iran with expanded ability to target enemy (inclunding U.S.) naval assets in the area. These burgeoning ballistic missile capabilities, moreover, track closely with Iran's progress on its nuclear program. “The Iranian’s missile program is running ahead and the moment they have a nuclear weapon, they will have the means to launch it,” says Rubin.
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