Missile Defense Briefing Report: No. 308

UN EYES FURTHER WEAPONS CONTROLS
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has voiced his support for an update to existing global missile proliferation regulations. The 2002 Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation discourages the accumulation, production or testing of large quantities of ballistic missiles. The Secretary General suggested that similar weapons, such as cruise missiles, be included in an updated version of the code. Currently 134 countries are signatories to the Code, commonly known as HCoC. Mr. Ban reasoned that updating it would fill “a critical void by enhancing transparency and building confidence among states, and by contributing to the peaceful uses of outer space.” (Global Security Newswire, November 26, 2012)

BOEING DEVELOPS EMP MISSILE
Defense industry giant Boeing has successfully developed an air-launched missile capable of disabling all of the electronics in targeted buildings. The Counter-Electronics High Powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP) utilizes a high-intensity beam of microwave energy that can destroy the electronics in specified locations, leaving most non-electrical infrastructure undamaged and people unharmed. The missile devastated the electronics of a Utah facility during a recent test. This new system could be used to nullify an enemy’s electronics well before any forces arrive at a combat zone. It is also believed that the microwave emissions could penetrate deep into the kind of structures that countries use to house illicit nuclear facilities. Critics, however, fear that this technology could fall into the wrong hands and cripple technology-dependent Western nations or trigger an arms race. (London Daily Mail, December 1, 2012)

NATO DEFENDS TURKEY...
NATO members have agreed to supply Turkey with the Patriot anti-missile systems that it has requested to protect its 560-mile border with Syria. Fears has grown in Ankara over the possibility that the growing disorder generated by the civil war taking place next door in Syria could lead the regime of Bashar Al-Assad to resort to the use of chemical weapons via ballistic missiles and bomber aircraft, some of which could hit Turkish towns on Syria’s border. The Patriot interceptors possess a range of up to 25 miles, giving Turkey the ability to shoot down any missile or aircraft headed for its territory well before it gets there. The missile batteries will most likely be supplied by Germany and the Netherlands. (The Guardian, December 2, 2012; Jerusalem Post, December 2, 2012)

...UPSETTING SYRIA'S STALWARTS
Syrian allies Russia and Iran have grown irate over the planned deployment of Patriot missiles in Turkey. Russia in particular has been vociferous in its objections to the effort, saying that the move will risk a wider war between Turkey and Syria and expand regional tensions. Moscow's concern likely originates from fears in Moscow that interceptors would create a de-facto no fly zone in Syria’s north, further undermining Russian ally Assad’s already tenuous hold on power. (Defense News, December 3, 2012; Chicago Tribune, December 3, 2012)

TIMING IRAN'S MISSILE PROGRAM - AND AMERICAN DEFENSES
The latest Congressional Research Service’s (CRS) report on Iran’s ballistic missile program has assessed that Iran does not appear capable of fielding an intercontinental ballistic missile in 2015, as previous government projections had estimated. According to the study, while Iran has moved forward with its efforts in the ballistic missile realm over the past decade, even going so far as to create a space-launch capability to put a satellite into space, development of longer range missiles by the Iranian regime appears to have lagged. That conclusion has political implications, since a long-range Iranian ballistic missile threat lies at the core of arguments in the United States about the need to construct a East Coast missile defense site to protect the American homeland. (Reuters, December 7, 2012)