Missile Defense Briefing Report: No. 305

PUTIN WANTS OBAMA AS NEGOTIATING PARTNER
In one of his clearest statements on the issue to date, Russian President Vladimir Putin has told state-controlled television network RT that he prefers President Barack Obama to his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney. According to Putin, a compromise on missile defense would be more feasible under a second term Obama administration than it would be under a first term Romney team. “We’ll work with whichever president gets elected by the American people,” Putin made clear. “But our effort will only be as efficient as our partners will want it to be.” Putin’s comments were an allusion to Obama’s statement to then Russian-president Dmitry Medvedev late last year that he would have “more flexibility” to compromise on missile defense following the upcoming U.S. election – a position at odds with Romney’s tougher stance on policy vis-à-vis the Kremlin. (New York Times, September 6, 2012; NBC, September 6, 2012)

RUSSIA TOUTS S-500
Russian military officials are heaping accolades on their new S-500 “Samoderzhets” antimissile system, now in development. According to Colonel General Oleg Ostapenko, head of the Russian aerospace defense forces, the developmental surface-to-air missile system will surpass any comparable U.S. system now in existence or development. Reportedly, the system will become an integral part of the country’s defenses once operational. However, a timeline for the S-500 has not been publicly disclosed. (Global Security Newswire, September 7, 2012)

MISSILE DEFENSE SHOULD RETURN TO THE BUSH ERA: REPORT
A new study by the Congressionally-appointed National Research Council has cast a critical eye on the Obama administration’s activities in the missile defense arena. The study, entitled Making Sense of Ballistic Missile Defense, concludes that the U.S. homeland could be better protected from long-range missile threats than it is currently. According to the non-partisan report, the Administration’s focus on boost-phase missile defense, attempting to intercept enemy missiles immediately after launch, is largely inefficient and not cost-effective. Likewise, the study notes that the Obama administration’s missile defense focus has centered on protecting Europe from short-range and medium-range Iranian missiles, shifting attention and resources away from defending the U.S. homeland.

In response, the NRC report recommends a return to the Bush administration’s emphasis on protecting the United States from long-range missile attacks – and suggests the addition of a third missile defense interceptor site on the East Coast of the United States. It also recommends upgrading and adding on to America’s current network of ground-based interceptors, while abandoning most boost-phase projects. As well, the study advocates for continued investments in the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, and in the Aegis and PAC-3. According to the report’s authors, Aegis ballistic missile defense-equipped ships would easily be able to pick up the slack from canceled boost-phase programs. (Agence France Presse, September 11, 2012; New York Times, September 11; Aviation Week, September 17, 2012)

A POLISH MISSILE DEFENSE SHIELD?
The Polish government has announced that it intends to spend between two and four billion dollars on its own missile defense system, separate from the planned NATO shield now taking shape on the Continent. A bill posted to the Polish Parliament terms funding for the upgraded missile defense program to be “the highest priority for the Polish Armed Forces in the coming decade.” The move may have been triggered by Polish concerns that the United States will concede further components of its missile defense plans to Russia if President Obama is reelected in November. Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski has previously expressed uncertainty over how seriously Poland’s allies in NATO, particularly the U.S., take its security. Poland’s current air defense structure relies on outdated Soviet-era systems poorly suited to engaging modern missile threats. (RIA Novosti, September 24, 2012)

JLENS COMES OF AGE
Sensors mounted on a Raytheon-made blimp successfully helped to target a cruise missile during a recent intercept test in New Mexico. The blimp is designed to house radar that provides tracking of incoming threats for missile defense interception. The Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor, or JLENS, can detect threats up to around 340 miles away. These long endurance blimps are designed to stay aloft at an altitude of 10,000 feet for up to thirty days, and provide a cheaper alternative to winged radar aircraft since they require fewer personnel to operate and have low fuel costs. However, thanks to budget and schedule overruns, the U.S. military will be buying only two of the JLENS systems, instead of the fourteen originally planned. Nevertheless, the operational applications of the technology are already clear; its characteristics make JLENS an ideal system for use in far flung missile-heavy hotspots such as the Persian Gulf. (Global Security Newswire, September 26, 2012)