MOSCOU, 9 décembre - RIA Novosti

Les Etats-Unis comptent toujours installer leur bouclier antimissile (ABM) en Europe malgré le progrès des négociations sur le sort du programme nucléaire iranien, écrit lundi le quotidien Kommersant.

"Nos projets concernant l'ABM en Europe restent inchangés. Les USA déploieront par étapes de leurs moyens de protection et considèrent ce travail comme une contribution au projet commun de l'Otan", a ainsi déclaré Laura Lucas, porte-parole du Conseil national de sécurité.

Sergueï Lavrov, ministre russe des Affaires étrangères, avait récemment proposé de renoncer à la mise en place de l'ABM européen puisque les USA et leurs alliés de l'Otan se référaient à la menace nucléaire iranienne pour justifier le déploiement de bases antimissile. D'après le ministre cet argument n'est plus recevable.

En effet, les autorités iraniennes ont accepté en novembre de geler pendant six mois leur programme nucléaire, de suspendre l'activité des entreprises qui enrichissent de l'uranium et de permettre aux inspecteurs de l'Agence internationale de l'énergie atomique (AIEA) d'accéder aux principaux sites du secteur nucléaire iranien, dont l'usine de Fordo et le réacteur à eau lourde d'Arak. Durant cette période les représentants des six médiateurs internationaux espèrent s’entendre sur les détails de l'accord à venir.

"Si le programme nucléaire iranien était complètement arrêté et placé sous le strict contrôle de l'AIEA, les arguments actuels justifiant la mise en place de l'ABM en Europe ne seraient plus valables", a déclaré Sergueï Lavrov lors d’une récente réunion avec les ministres des Affaires étrangères de l'Otan à Bruxelles.

Cette position a été verbalement soutenue par l'Allemagne. D'après le ministre allemand des Affaires étrangères Guido Westerwelle, l'avenir du bouclier antimissile européen dépend entièrement du succès des négociations avec l'Iran. "Ces problèmes sont interdépendants. En cas de progrès majeur dans les pourparlers sur le programme nucléaire iranien, nous pourrons régler le problème de l'ABM qui suscite les objections de la Russie", a-t-il expliqué.

Malgré tout les Etats-Unis ont annoncé que le déploiement d’un bouclier antimissile en Europe ne dépendait pas des négociations des Six. Selon un représentant haut placé du département d'Etat, les arguments russes n'ont pas été soutenus "à l'unanimité par tous les ministres de l'Otan présents à la réunion".

"Le secrétaire d'Etat John Kerry a répété à plusieurs reprises que ce système ne servait pas uniquement à se défendre contre le programme nucléaire iranien mais également à parer une attaque de missiles. Le programme permet d'utiliser d'autres armes de destruction massive et nécessite une protection appropriée de notre part", a expliqué le représentant du département d'Etat lors d'un briefing à huis clos.

De plus, le président américain Barack Obama a reconnu samedi qu'il n'était pas encore certain du règlement définitif du problème nucléaire iranien. "D'après moi la probabilité que l'Iran tienne ses engagements est de 50/50", a-t-il déclaré à la Brookings Institution de Washington.

Le chef de la Maison blanche a rappelé que les Etats-Unis n'avaient pas l'intention de renoncer aux sanctions contre l’Iran et avaient donné une chance à Téhéran en réduisant la pression internationale. "Si dans les six mois à venir l'Iran montrait sa réticence à respecter cette entente, nous reviendrions à la politique de sanctions", a déclaré le président américain en rappelant que cette politique avait déjà prouvé son efficacité.

December 6, 2013: Strategy Page

India recently had another successful test of their Prithvi II ballistic missile. This is progress, because in September 2010 a Prithvi II test failed as the rocket motor began burning fuel, but not enough to get it off the launcher. There was lots of smoke and confusion, but no launch. This was a user trial where military crews were making sure they were able to use a new weapon that had been successfully completed testing using manufacturer personnel to operate it. This is a common practice, but particularly necessary in India, where the manufacturers often cut corners during development and testing. The troops on the military launch crews are usually not privy to these workarounds, and the developers sometimes just keep their fingers crossed that the troops can handle things on their own. For example, in 2009 the first user test of the ground launched BrahMos cruise missile failed. Not a major problem, it turned out. After a few months, everything was put right. That’s what happened with the Prithvi II.

The first successful test of the 4.6 ton Prithvi II took place in 2009 and it successfully hit a target 350 kilometers away. The 2010 launch was to test the ability of the missile to carry a half ton warhead. This is the minimum size for a nuclear warhead. Used with a nuclear warhead Prithvi II is a strategic weapon, since it can put those nuclear warheads on major targets within neighboring Pakistan. In the last three years Prithvi II has been improved to the point where it can reach targets 350 kilometers away while carrying a one ton warhead.

A Prithvi III is in development. This is the Prithvi II modified to be operated from ships. This missile can carry a half ton warhead 600 kilometers. The increase in range and warhead weight for the Prithvi III was achieved by using a solid fuel rocket motor, and adding a second stage with a liquid fuel motor. The Prithvi II uses a liquid fuel rocket. The navy has not installed the Prithvi III on any of its ships because it was discovered that the liquid fuel was too dangerous to handle aboard a ship at sea.

The Prithvi is a ballistic missile that reaches its target within 5-10 minutes of launch and was originally developed as a shorter range (150 kilometers) missile. Prithvi uses liquid fuel, meaning it takes up to an hour to ready for launch. In 2013 India announced that it is replacing over a hundred Prithvi I ballistic missiles with the solid fuel Prahar. While the air force controls long range ballistic missiles, the army has long been supplied with some shorter range Prithvi Is. This is a single stage, road mobile, liquid fuel battlefield support missile that weighs 4.4 tons and is nine meters (27.3 feet) long, 110cm in diameter and costing about a million dollars each. Introduced in 1994, the army version has a 150 kilometer range and carries a one ton warhead.

The Prahar is more compact and reliable. It weighs 1.3 tons, is 7.3 meters (23.6 feet) long and 42cm in diameter, costing less than a million dollars each and carrying a 200 kg (440 pound) warhead. Prahar can be carried and fired from a TEL (Transporter Erector Launcher) that will haul six Prahars, each in a sealed container. Prahar can carry nuclear or conventional warheads and the TEL can fire salvos of up to six missiles, each in quick succession. The guidance system brings the missile to within ten meters of its aiming point. This is more than twice as accurate as Prithvi I. Most importantly, a Prahar can be fired within minutes of receiving the order while the Prithvi I takes over an hour to fuel and prepare for launch.

Prithvi I is similar to the old Russian SCUD, which is a direct descendent of the first ballistic missile, the German V-2 in World War II. The U.S. produced the Corporal missile as an equivalent to the SCUD, but replaced it with solid fuel missiles in the 1960s. Russia replaced its SCUDS in the 1970s and the U.S. replaced its liquid fuel battlefield missiles a decade earlier. But a lot of SCUD type missiles remain in service around the world. India is in the process of replacing most of its liquid fuel missiles with solid fuel types.

06-12-2013 SEDE

December 5, 2013: Strategy Page

The new Russian built Indian aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya was turned over to the Indian Navy on November 16th and left for India ten days later. There’s one major problem however. Vikramaditya is not combat ready yet. When Vikramaditya arrives at its home port in late January it will be without its primary LRSAM/Barak 8 anti-aircraft missile system. Vikramaditya is supposed to be fully operational by mid-2014 but that won’t happen until it receives its Israeli designed air defense system. In the meantime the carrier does have several AK-630 Russian made six-barrel 30mm close-in weapon systems (CIWS), for defense against anti-ship missiles as well as MiG-29 fighters. But the long range anti-aircraft missiles are a major part of the air defenses.

It’s all about persistent Indian problems with managing the development of military technology. India and Israel have a deal to jointly develop and manufacture the new Barak 8 anti-aircraft missile. India calls their version LRSAM (Long Range Surface to Air Missile) and while most (70 percent) of the development work has been done in Israel, India is the major customer (buying $1.1 billion worth of LRSAM/Barak 8 for their warships). Because India has a larger navy, they will be the major user. The two countries evenly split the $350 million development cost. The Indian delay is because of problems developing features India wanted and some Indian made components in LRSAM. While the Barak 8 is being installed in some Israeli ships right now, Israel cannot just install Barak 8 in Vikramaditya until the two countries resolve some differences over the transfer of some Israeli technology to India. This has also been a problem with other Western nations and the Indian government has not been willing to change Indian laws and patent protections to avoid these problems.

Over the last few years India found that they had a major problem with LRSAM; they did not have enough engineers in the government procurement bureaucracy to quickly and accurately transfer the Israeli technical data to the Indian manufacturers. In addition, some of the Indian firms that were to manufacture Barak 8 either misrepresented their capabilities or did not know until it was too late that they did not have the personnel or equipment to handle manufacture of Barak 8 components.

Meanwhile Israel is already manufacturing and installing the new Barak 8 on its three 1,075 ton Saar 5 class corvettes. This means Barak 8 will be ready for action over a year before its scheduled 2015 service date. Israel is believed to be rushing this installation because Russia has sent high speed Yakhont anti-ship missiles to Syria and Barak 8 was designed to deal with this kind of threat. Barak 8 is also Israel’s first air defense system equal to the American Patriot (and similar systems like the U.S. Navy SM-2, Russian S-300 and European Aster 15). An improved Barak 8 would be able to shoot down short range ballistic missiles.

The Barak 8 is a 275 kg (605 pound) missile with a 60 kg (132 pound) warhead and a range of 70 kilometers. The warhead has its own seeker that can find the target despite most countermeasures. The missiles are mounted in a three ton, eight cell container (which requires little maintenance) and are launched straight up. The compact (for easy installation on a ship) fire control module weighs under two tons.

The original Barak 1 missiles was introduced in the 1980s and is also used by the Indian Navy. Each Barak 1 missile weighs 98 kg (216 pounds) each and has a 21.8 kg (48 pound) warhead. These missiles were also mounted in an eight cell container. The radar system provides 360 degree coverage and the missiles can take down an incoming missile as close as 500 meters away from the ship. The missile has a range of ten kilometers, and is also effective against aircraft. India has bought over $300 million worth of these systems.

05.12.2013 par P. Chapleau - lignes de Défense

La Direction générale de l'armement (DGA) a notifié le 3 décembre à la société MBDA France, le contrat de développement et production du missile MMP (Missile moyenne portée) appelé à remplacer les Milan. Le parc cible comprendra 400 postes de tir et 2850 missiles. 175 postes de tir et 450 missiles seront livrés sur la période 2014-2019.

Un peu de doc en cliquant ici.

Dans un communiqué, la Dicod précise que

The Norwegian government will provide funding to continue development of the Joint Strike Missile. (Kongsberg Defence Systems Concept)

Dec. 4, 2013 - By ANDREW CHUTER – Defense news

The Norwegian government will provide funding to continue development of the Joint Strike Missile.

LONDON — Kongsberg has secured New Zealand as a customer for its Penguin anti-ship missile and agreed to a deal with the Norwegian government to provide stop-gap funding on its Joint Strike Missile (JSM) program while parliamentary approval is awaited to complete development of the weapon.

The missile deals were among four announcements made by Norway’s top contractor over the last few days.

The company said it has also signed a framework agreement with the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation (NDLO) to support and maintain systems it has supplied to the Norwegian Navy and is progressing efforts to integrate the JSM on Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter.

The New Zealand Defence Force has purchased a small number of Penguin Mk2 Mod 7 anti-ship missiles and associated equipment to equip new Kaman SH-2G (I) Super Seasprite helicopters acquired by the Navy.

New Zealand has purchased eight SH-2G(I)’s from a batch of machines originally purchased by Australia before the deal was canceled. The Penguins are thought to have come from the same original customer.

“This contract strongly confirms the Penguin missile’s position as the leading missile within its segment. The contract is for a limited number of missiles, however it is considered an important upgrade of New Zealand’s Navy,” said Pal Bratlie, the executive vice president at Kongsberg Defence Systems.

No contract value was given.

Kongsberg has also signed a NOK 480 million ($78 million) deal with the NDLO to continue work on the JSM ahead of the Norwegian Parliament’s expected approval of the final phase of development of the weapon.

An earlier version of the weapon, known as the Naval Strike Missile, has already been acquired by Norway and Poland for maritime and coastal defense roles.

The new JSM weapon is being developed principally, but not exclusively, for the Lockheed Martin F-35 joint strike fighter for anti-surface and naval fire support missions.

Norway has already committed to buying the F-35 and is looking to equip the fighter with the new long-range weapon, which can be carried internally in the bomb bay or externally.

Walter Qvam, Kongsberg’s CEO, said the international F-35 user consortium is showing great interest in the missile.

Phase 2 development is complete and Kongsberg said in a statement that to “ensure competence and progress between phase 2 and phase 3 the Norwegian Armed Forces have signed a bridging phase contract prior to Parliamentary proceedings and approval of the entire JSM development phase 3.”

Work in phase 2 included detailed design and early integration work on the F-35 as well as the F/A-18 and the F-16.

Kongsberg said it had recently completed a fit-check of the JSM on the external pylons of an F/A-18F at Boeing’s St. Louis facility.

In its most recent announcement, Kongsberg said Dec 3 that it had secured a NOK 165 million deal with the Norwegian Navy to support, maintain and further develop systems it had supplied, including Nansen-class frigates, Ula-class submarines and various training centers.

Missiles, sonar systems, command and control, and navigation equipment are all included in the six-year contract.

Le mégacontrat SRSAM (Short Range Surface to Air Missile), un missile sol-air de nouvelle génération, est actuellement dans les mains du Bercy indien

03/12/2013 Michel Cabirol – LaTribune.fr

Selon des sources concordantes, MBDA ne signera pas en 2013 le mégacontrat SRSAM (Short Range Surface to Air Missile), un missile sol-air de nouvelle génération, co-développé et coproduit en Inde avec Bharat Dynamics Limited. Un contrat estimé à 1,8 milliard d'euros pour MBDA

Dec 2, 201 ASDNews Source : Raytheon Corporation

    SM-6 achieves initial operational capability

The U.S. Navy is deploying Raytheon Company's (NYSE: RTN) Standard Missile-6 for the first time, marking the initial operational capability milestone for the U.S. Navy's newest, most advanced extended range area defense weapon.

"We're very pleased to achieve initial operational capability on schedule," said Capt. Mike Ladner, Surface Ship Weapons major program manager. "The SM-6, with its ability to extend the battlespace, truly offers improved capability for the warfighter. I'm very proud of the entire STANDARD Missile team on this historic achievement."

The SM-6 provides extended range protection against fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles. The interceptor combines the airframe and propulsion of legacy Standard Missiles with the advanced signal processing and guidance control capabilities of the Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM).

"This is a monumental moment for the SM-6 program and signifies a new era of fleet defense for our naval warfighters," said Dr. Taylor W. Lawrence, president, Raytheon Missile Systems. "The SM-6 significantly improves the sailor's ability to strike at various targets at extended range."

Raytheon has delivered more than 50 SM-6 interceptors to the Navy under low-rate production contracts. In September, Raytheon won a contract for $243 million to build 89 new SM-6 interceptors, signaling the start of full-rate production.

About the Standard Missile-6

SM-6 delivers a proven extended range air defense capability by leveraging the time-tested advantages of the Standard Missile's airframe and propulsion.

    The SM-6 uses both active and semi-active guidance modes and advanced fuzing techniques.

    It incorporates the advanced signal processing and guidance control capabilities from Raytheon's Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile.

Nov 29, 2013 eurofighter.com

Eurofighter Partner Company Alenia Aermacchi has confirmed that the first in a major series of flight tests to integrate the MBDA Storm Shadow missile onto Eurofighter Typhoon has now taken place.

Initial flight trials to demonstrate that the missile can be safely carried have been successfully started.  The trials began on 27th November, by the Alenia Aermacchi Flight Test Centre at Decimomannu Air Base, in Sardinia, Italy, with the support of the Eurofighter Partner Companies, BAE Systems and Cassidian.

The intensive flight test programme  began with flutter tests and an air data system large store interference assessment, using Instrumented Production Aircraft 2 (IPA2) updated to the Phase 1 Enhancement standard.

The Chief Executive Officer of Eurofighter GmbH, Alberto Gutierrez, said: “The successful start of the flight tests is good news for our programme. This is one of a number of enhancements that are coming on stream and there are many more to come. Storm Shadow is a major step forward significantly increasing the air-to-ground capabilities of the Eurofighter Typhoon.”

The Storm Shadow, already in service with the Italian Air Force and Royal Air Force Tornados, is a conventionally armed, stealthy, long-range stand-off precision weapon designed to neutralise high value targets. The new weapons systems will add the capability to strike in day or night in all-weather conditions, well-defended infrastructure targets such as port facilities, control centres, bunkers, missile sites, airfields and bridges that would otherwise require several aircraft and missions. This is a new addition to the Eurofighter Typhoon’s potent simultaneous multi-/swing-role capabilities.

Powered by a turbo-jet engine, with a range in excess of 250 km, the Storm Shadow missile weighs approximately 1.300kg and is just over 5 metres long. It will be available to operators from 2015 when the Eurofighter Typhoon Phase 2 Enhancements become operational.

Storm Shadow will provide a significant leap in the Eurofighter Typhoon’s operational capabilities, enabling the platform to deploy multiple weapons at a very long range well clear of danger from air defences.

Background information:

Eurofighter Typhoon is the most advanced new generation multi-role/swing-role combat aircraft currently available on the world market. Seven customers (Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Austria, Saudi Arabia and Oman) have already ordered the Eurofighter Typhoon. With 719 aircraft under contract and 571 on order, Eurofighter Typhoon is currently the largest military procurement programme in Europe. Its high technology strengthens the position of European aerospace industry in the international market. The programme secures more than 100,000 jobs in 400 companies. Eurofighter Jagdflugzeug GmbH manages the programme on behalf of the Eurofighter Partner Companies Alenia Aermacchi/Finmeccanica, BAE Systems and Cassidian in Germany and Spain, which are the most important aviation and aerospace companies in Europe with a turnover of about 126 billion euro (2012).

Since the first Typhoon entered service in 2003 , more than 390 Eurofighter have been delivered to six countries: Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Austria and Saudi Arabia. The seventh customer, Oman ordered a total of 12 aircraft in December 2012. Until now, the combined Eurofighter fleet has completed more than 210,000 flying hours.

November 28, 2013: Strategy Page

Japan will expand its force of warships equipped with anti-missile systems by building two more Aegis equipped destroyers. Japan is quite pleased with its Aegis anti-missile system. In 2010 a Japanese Kongo class destroyer shot down a ballistic missile off Hawaii, using its Aegis anti-missile system. That made three successful Aegis tests for Japan's Aegis equipped destroyers, out of four attempts. Japan already has four destroyers equipped to use Aegis anti-missile systems and two more are having their Aegis upgraded to have anti-missile capability.

With the two new destroyers Japan will have eight warships with Aegis anti-missile capability. The upgrade process mainly involves software modifications to for the Aegis radar and fire control system and replacing some of the SM-2 anti-aircraft missiles with SM-3 anti-missile missiles. Not counting the cost of the SM-3 missiles, the upgrade costs about $15 million per ship.

Encouraged by the success the U.S. Navy continues developing new features. In 2013 it completed testing of the new Standard Missile 6 (SM-6) anti-aircraft missile. In 2013, two years after receiving the first production SM-6, the U.S. Navy successfully tested it hitting an aircraft (a BQM-74 target UAV) over the horizon. The SM-6 is basically the existing SM-2 anti-aircraft missile with the more capable guidance system of the AMRAAM air-to-air missile, as well as other improvements in the electronics and other components. The SM-6 is a 1.5 ton, 6.55 meter (21.5 foot) long, 533mm (21 inch) diameter missile. It has a max range of 240 kilometers and max altitude of 33 kilometers (110,000 feet).

The older SM-2 is 1.35 ton, 8 meter (26.2 foot) long missile with a max range of 190 kilometers and max altitude of 24.4 kilometers (80,200 feet). The AMRAAM guidance system is self-contained and will seek out any target it comes within range of. The current SM-2 uses a "semi-active" guidance system, which requires that a special targeting radar "light up" the target with a radar beam, which the SM-2 guidance system detects and homes in on. The "active" guidance system of the SM-6 is thus harder to jam and can home in on targets beyond the range of targeting radars. The SM-6 can attack anti-ship missiles as well.

The SM-6 took 9 years to develop and is now in production, with the initial order for 1,200 missiles at a cost of $4.3 million each. SM-6 will replace many of the SM-2 missiles currently carried by American and Australian warships and eventually other SM-2 users (like Japan) as well.

Meanwhile, the navy has been continuing years of improvements in the Aegis radar and fire control system that controls SM-2, SM-6, and the smaller SM-3 anti-missile version. The SM-3 can destroy ballistic missiles and low earth-orbit satellites. The Aegis anti-missile system has had a success rate of over 80 percent in knocking down incoming ballistic missile warheads during test firings. Aegis equipped ships are now getting version 4.0 and the next major upgrade (5.0) will make the anti-missile capabilities a standard feature of Aegis software. New destroyers are having anti-missile Aegis software installed as standard equipment. Much of the anti-missile capability of the original Aegis anti-aircraft system came from upgrades to the Aegis software.

There are actually two models of the U.S. Navy Standard anti-aircraft missile that can hit missiles. The RIM-161A, also known as the Standard Missile 3 (or SM-3), has a range of over 500 kilometers and max altitude of over 160 kilometers. The Standard 3 is based on the anti-missile version of the Standard 2 (SM-2 Block IV). This SM-3 missile has a shorter range than the SM-2, which can destroy a warhead that is more than 200 kilometers up. The SM-3 is only good for anti-missile work, while the SM-2 Block IV can be used against both ballistic missiles and aircraft. The SM-2 Block IV also costs less than half of what an SM-3 costs.

MOSCOU, 28 novembre - RIA Novosti

Cinq batteries de missiles sol-air S-500 équiperont l'armée russe conformément au  programme d'armement pour l'horizon 2020, a annoncé jeudi le commandant des Troupes de défense aérospatiale Alexandre Golovko.

"Au total, l'achat de cinq batteries de missiles sol-air S-500 est prévu par le programme d'armement russe", a indiqué le général dans une interview à RIA Novosti.

Il a été antérieurement annoncé que les premiers systèmes de missiles S-500 équiperaient les Troupes de défense aérospatiale en 2017.

Les missiles sol-air de nouvelle génération à longue portée S-500 seront en mesure de détruire 10 cibles aérodynamiques à la fois (avions, hélicoptères, autres cibles aériennes) volant à une vitesse de 7 km/sec à 200 km d'altitude, ainsi que les ogives de missiles de croisière hypersoniques.

MOSCOU, 27 novembre - RIA Novosti

Les Troupes russes de défense aérospatiale ont reçu six nouveaux systèmes antiaériens Pantsir-S, a annoncé mercredi à Moscou le porte-parole des Troupes de défense Dmitri Zenine.

"De nouveaux systèmes de défense Pantsir-S ont tiré des missiles et des obus sur le polygone "Achoulouk", dans la région d'Astrakhan. Les représentants de l'usine ont remis six nouveaux véhicules de combat aux Troupes de défense aérospatiale", a indiqué le colonel Zenine.

Selon lui, deux régiments dotés de missiles S-400 Triumph et plusieurs régiments équipés de missiles S-300 Favorit protègent actuellement la région de Moscou. "Les deux régiments de missiles S-400 Triumph disposent déjà de batteries Pantsir-S. La nouvelle batterie Pantsir-S viendra équiper un troisième régiment de missiles sol-air S-400 qui sera mis en service opérationnel en décembre", a noté le colonel.

Le système antiaérien de courte portée Pantsir-S est destiné à protéger les sites militaires et civils (centrales nucléaires, grandes usines, sites sensibles) ou à appuyer les systèmes sol-air de longue portée S-300 et S-400. Chaque véhicule doté du système Pantsir-S est capable de protéger un terrain dans un rayon de 20 km et jusqu'à 15 km d'altitude.

Pantsir-S tire des missiles et des obus d'artillerie. Les missiles, d'une portée de 20 kilomètres, se déplacent à 1.300 mètres par seconde et sont capables de neutraliser les cibles aériennes les plus modernes (surtout les armes de haute précision). Les obus, d'une portée de 4 kilomètres, détruisent les cibles navales, terrestres ou aériennes à une altitude allant de 0 à 3 kilomètres. Le Pantsir-S est en mesure de frapper quatre cibles simultanément.

Third Interceptor Site: Possible East Coast locations for an additional ground-based interceptor site are being examined by the Missile Defense Agency. (US Missile Defense Agency)

Nov. 26, 2013  By PAUL McLEARY – Defense news

WASHINGTON — While the debate continues over how soon Iran or North Korea might be able to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that could strike the US mainland, the US government is forging ahead with controversial plans to beef up its domestic missile defense capabilities well before any threat has materialized.

In September, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced that in addition to the two ground-based interceptor (GBI) sites it operates in Alaska and California, it has started looking at five potential locations to house a third site in the eastern US.

Inspecting a variety of sites will allow the Pentagon to begin environmental assessments if a skeptical Congress eventually reaches agreement on the project and finds the necessary funding.

The prospective sites at Fort Drum, N.Y.; Camp Ethan Allen Training Site, Vt.; Naval Air Station Portsmouth, Maine; Camp Ravenna, Ohio; and the Fort Custer Training Center, Mich., are all on federal land. The existing GBI sites at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., house a total of 30 missiles, with another 14 to be added at Fort Greely by 2017 at a cost of about $1 billion.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that expanding the ground-based midcourse defense system to the East Coast would cost about $3.5 billion over the next five years.

Boeing acts as the prime contractor that manages the Pentagon’s program to defeat long-range missile threats, while Raytheon and Orbital Sciences have teamed to build both the interceptors and rockets.

The issue of an additional GBI site on the East Cost sparked controversy on Capitol Hill this summer, as Senate Democrats pushed back against congressional Republicans who again included money for the site in their 2013 defense budget markup. The Republicans also attempted to fund the third site in the 2012 budget, but Senate Democrats defeated the measure.

In June, the the Raytheon-made GBI system failed another MDA test, making it the fourth failed test of the capability — each costing about $70 million — since 2010, but the Pentagon insists that it will keep trying.

While the interceptor sites remain embroiled in controversy, several long-term missile tracking and interceptor technologies are ensnared in Pentagon red tape.

Since the late 1990s, the Army has been working on a variety of tethered aerostats that would be capable of tracking incoming missiles. After years of testing, Raytheon won the bid to actually design and build the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) in 2005.

JLENS can reach an altitude of 10,000 feet and stay aloft for 30 days, and its 360-degree sensor package can scan the air, land and sea for up to 340 miles.

But budget pressures and long development times caused the Pentagon to radically scale back the program — which has completed its recent battery of tests — in the fiscal 2013 defense budget. The Army said it would build just two JLENS orbits instead of the 16 it originally wanted, saving the service an estimated $1.75 billion over the next half decade.

That hasn’t stopped the Army from preparing to send the JLENS to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland in 2014 to begin three years of tests in the highly congested airspace, roadways and sea lanes of the National Capital Region.

But the inability of Congress to pass a federal budget is putting that testing program at risk. In written testimony Oct. 23 to the House Armed Services Committee, Army acquisition chief Heidi Shyu said that without a full defense budget in 2014, JLENS “cannot meet scheduled construction plans.”

While JLENS continues to exist in a state of suspended — but tethered — animation, the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) developed by the US, Italy and Germany for about US $3.4 billion — with more than $2 billion coming from the United States — continues to move forward. In early November, MEADS, a 360-degree radar and missile system designed to knock down missile threats, intercepted and destroyed two targets simultaneously at the White Sands Missile range in New Mexico.

The only hitch is that after spending billions to develop the technology, the US Army has said it will continue to modernize and upgrade its existing Patriot missile batteries instead of buying MEADS, and the November test was its last.

But the program isn’t completely dead. The Army is assessing potential technologies it might want to “harvest” from MEADS and has promised to submit a report to the Pentagon in the spring outlining what elements of the program it might be able to use.

While all of this work is being done in the face of perceived threats, some perhaps inconvenient geostrategic facts are emerging. In November, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies released a report saying that Iran “is unlikely to have such a weapon before the end of the decade.”

Looking at efforts similar to Iran’s program to develop long-range ICBMs, the study concluded it’s “reasonable to conclude that Iran is unlikely to move on to producing an operational intermediate-range [missile], powered by a 20- to 25-ton first-stage motor within the next five years,” and “an ICBM powered by a first-stage motor in excess of 30 tons would likely require an additional five to 10 years, if not more.”