Missile Defense Briefing Report: No. 315

HOUSE APPROVES EAST COAST MISSILE SITE
The House Armed Services Committee has given the go-ahead for a new missile defense site to be built in the U.S. Northeast. The system’s purpose is to protect the East coast of the United States from Iranian or North Korean long range missiles. The proposal was rejected by the Senate Armed Services Committee last year, but interest in an East coast site has been renewed in the aftermath of North Korean provocations earlier this year. The amendment authorizing the missile site, introduced by Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH-10), states that “The Missile Defense Agency shall construct and make operational in fiscal year 2018 an additional homeland missile defense site capable of protecting the homeland, designed to complement existing sites in Alaska and California, to deal more effectively with the long-range ballistic missile threat from the Middle East.” However, some Members of Congress, including Senator Carl Levin (D-MI), are skeptical about whether or not the interceptors are necessary - setting up a potential political tug-of-war between the House and Senate, since the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act, which contains the amendment, needs to be passed by both chambers in order for the East coast site to become a reality. (Defense News, June 6, 2013)

RUSSIA TESTS “MISSILE DEFENSE KILLER” ICBM
Russia has tested a new ICBM that, according to the Kremlin, is capable of defeating U.S. missile defenses. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin claimed that “Neither current nor future American missile defense systems will be able to prevent that missile from hitting a target dead on.” While no specific details of the missile are yet known, the Russian Defense Ministry has indicated that “The test launch was a success as the [simulated] warhead hit a designated target within the set time frame.” (Moscow RIA Novosti, June 7, 2013)

SEOUL TO DEPLOY MISSILE SHIELD BY 2020...
South Korea has announced that it will speed up the development of its indigenous missile defense system to counter the missile threat from Pyongyang. The “kill chain” system combines satellites, surveillance drones, missile interceptors, and naval assets to detect and defeat incoming missiles. South Korea's Defense Minister, Kim Kwan-jin, said that the decision to accelerate work on the "kill chain" was at least partly influenced by North Korea’s rocket test in December 2012. (Seoul Yonhap, June 11, 2013)

...AND UPGRADE ITS SEA-BASED INTERCEPTORS IN 2016
The Republic of Korea will also equip its Aegis antimissile ships with the new Standard Missile 6 (SM-6). Raytheon’s SM-6 is a surface-to-air missile that has a maximum range of 250 miles. South Korean ships currently use the older SM-2 interceptors, which do not have the range to intercept North Korean ballistic missiles. The SM-6 interceptors will work alongside existing elements of Seoul’s missile shield, which relies on U.S. satellites for tracking data. (Global Security Newswire, June 13, 2013)

TURKEY EYES CHINESE MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM
Turkish military planners have selected a Chinese long range anti-missile system as their method of choice to combat enemy aircraft and missiles, despite the fact that it may be incompatible with NATO's current missile defense infrastructure. Ankara is set to procure the HQ-9 system from China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corp., beating out bids from both U.S. and Italian-French consortia. Turkey currently relies on early-warning radars and satellites owned by NATO to detect ballistic missiles and air-breathing threats. (Defense World, June 25, 2013)