During campaign season, it never hurts for a presidential candidate facing a frustrated public to display toughness and resolve in the face of an old and familiar adversary. And it also doesn’t hurt to throw in some shock-and-awe–say, a ballistic missile nicknamed “Satan.”

This appears to at least partly explain why on Monday Russia announced that it had successfully tested a short-range interceptor missile; part of its ongoing effort to develop a domestic missile defense system, according to Russia’s RIA News Agency. (The Russian Defense Ministry has provided a video of the missile’s launch on its website.) Russia also announced it is working on the development of a 100-ton ballistic missile slated for release in 2015, Pravda reports. Russia recently held contested parliamentary polls and is due to hold presidential elections in March. Russia watchers note the political backdrop to the announced plans and their part in the wider narrative agenda: resurgent Russia’s determined opposition to American missile defense plans in Eastern Europe.

“In connection with the plans of the United States to develop the air defense system in Europe, in close vicinity to Russia’s borders, and because of the unwillingness of the U.S.  side to provide any guarantees, the Russian Federation continues to take measures to preserve parity in the field,” Pravda reports.

“Russia does not stand against the U.S. missile defense system,” Sergei Karakaev, the Russian Defense Ministry commander of the missile troops, was cited by the paper. “Russia stands against the creation of the missile defense system, which would be directly aimed against Russia to potentially reduce the possibilities of the Russian nuclear containment forces.”  [The Envoy]

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday formally inaugurated a new missile alert radar station in the nation’s Baltic enclave and said the system was a strong response to U.S. plans to deploy a missile shield in Europe, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Nov. 28).

Medvedev allowed, though that the large radar site in the Kaliningrad region could be incorporated into NATO’s planned missile defense system if the sides can reach a deal to collaborate on the project.

“I hope that our partners will perceive this move as the first signal of our country’s readiness to respond in kind to the threats, which the missile defense system poses for our forces,” he said.

Russia has been engaged for a year in discussions with NATO and the United States regarding the missile shield. Moscow objects to Obama administration plans to over the course of the decade field increasingly advanced sea- and land-based missile interceptors around Europe as a declared bulwark against a feared ballistic missile attack from Iran. The Kremlin believes the interceptors would be aimed at Russia’s long-range nuclear missiles; Washington has repeatedly denied this claim.

Last week, the Russian president warned the Kremlin might pull out of the New START nuclear arms control pact with the United States and send Iskander missiles to the Kaliningrad territory, which abuts several NATO states, if a deal with the Western military bloc cannot be reached on missile defense. Negotiations have run aground over differing views about what cooperation should entail; Moscow favors a unified approach while NATO wants two independent but linked antimissile systems.

In addition, Russia wants a legally binding pledge that the missile shield will not be aimed at its strategic nuclear forces.

“We can’t be satisfied with oral assurances that the system isn’t aimed against Russia. Regrettably, such oral statements don’t guarantee the protection of our interests,” Medvedev said (Associated Press/New York Times, Nov. 29).

Washington-based issue specialists, however, said there is little chance the White House would cave to Russian demands on missile defense in Europe, the New York Times reported.  [Global Security Newswire]

You can read more at the link but I wonder what type of radar this is?

The South Korean air force intends to carry out its own enhancement of crucial computer program components for its fallback antimissile system, both as a cost saving measure and to avoid potentially leaking information related to the equipment, the Korea Herald reported on Monday (see GSN, Oct. 25).

The South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration and the air force have been in discussions with the United States on the software enhancements to the Master Control Report Center. Washington asked for $13.3 million to handle the upgrades, but the South ultimately determined it would be able to complete the improvement project on its own at a fraction of the cost — $1.86 million, officials said.

“The air force has reached a conclusion that it can upgrade the software with its own technology accumulated through the project to enhance the MCRC system,” a Defense Acquisition Program Administration official said.

The improvements would create an Integrated Command and Control capacity at the Master Control Report Center, located at the air force’s Osan base. The enhancements would boost South Korea’s ability to shoot down North Korean ballistic missiles in the event that initial intercept attempts by the South’s Patriot Advanced Capability 2 system are unsuccessful.

Following a failed PAC-2 intercept, the South Korean air force would utilize medium-altitude Hawk missiles.

North Korea’s long-range Musudan missile is considered capable of traveling as far as 1,864 to 2,485 miles, placing the U.S. military base in Guam within its possible strike range (Song Sang-ho, Korea Herald, Nov. 14).  [NTI Global Security Newswire]

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused Washington on Thursday of imposing its plans to deploy a missile defence shield on European countries, a day after he threatened to retaliate if the United States pressed ahead with the project.

On Wednesday Medvedev said he would arm Russia with missiles capable of countering the U.S. shield, deploy additional weapons in the west and south and set up an early-warning radar system in its Baltic enclave to counteract the U.S. system, which is not expected to be fully in place until 2020.

“The construction of the European missile defence shield has been largely imposed (on Europe) by the United States,” he told regional reporters at a briefing in the northern town of Petrozavodsk, some 920 km (570 miles) north of Moscow.

He quoted unnamed European leaders who, he said, had complained to him that they had a minor role in the project.

“My partners…have hinted to me from time to time: “It is the Americans who decided that, they are promoting it, and our role as NATO member states is to provide territory,” he said.

Medvedev’s attempt to divide Washington and its NATO partners could irk European countries, especially Poland and Romania, former Soviet bloc states that had agreed, along with Spain, to house parts of the missile shield.

Russia’s ex-satellites are traditionally sensitive to Moscow belittling their authority.

Russia maintains that the U.S. missile defence system aims to weaken its nuclear deterrent and wants legally binding guarantees that the system will not be directed against it. Washington says the shield will be deployed against countries like Iran and is not a threat to Russia.

Medvedev, who together with his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama called for a ‘reset’ in relations less than three years ago to improve Russia’s ties with the West, has recently tended to echo Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s anti-western rhetoric.

His latest statements are widely seen as a way to please the domestic audience ahead of Dec. 4 parliamentary polls and the March 2012 presidential vote, which are expected to steer Putin back to the Kremlin and secure Medvedev the post of prime minister by agreement between the two men.  [Reuters]

Russian space forces commander Lt. Gen. Oleg Ostapenko on Tuesday said his nation and Ukraine are in discussions on a potential collaborative program to field ballistic missile defense technology, RIA Novosti reported (see GSN, Feb. 28).

“We are currently in talks with the Ukrainian side on jointly resolving missile defense objectives,” the military commander said without providing any other specifics.

However, Moscow has no interest in renewing its usage of Ukraine’s “obsolete” radars at Sevastopol and Mukacheve, he said (RIA Novosti, Oct. 4).

In February, former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko said the country was interested in participating in NATO’s planned missile defense architecture even though Ukraine is not a member of the alliance. Ohryzko said the radar stations at Mukacheve and Sevastopol could be his government’s contribution to the missile shield, according to previous reports.

“These radar stations were built in the Soviet period. They cannot be used against Russia because they look the other way,” ITAR-Tass reported quoted Ostapenko as saying.

“These are totally obsolete radar stations, and it would be senseless to restore them,” the general said (ITAR-Tass, Oct. 4).

Moscow has voiced repeated worries that NATO’s missile shield would be secretly aimed at undermining Russian strategic nuclear forces.  [Global Security News]

You can read more at the link.

Spain agreed Wednesday to bolster NATO’s planned missile defence system by hosting four US naval ships equipped with interceptors designed to knock out incoming missiles.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero visited NATO headquarters to announce the deal alongside US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

“Spain is a (NATO) member committed to the collective defence of Europe,” Zapatero told a news conference, adding that the deal will “also guarantee the defence of our territory and Spanish people”.

The Aegis-equipped ships will be deployed at the US naval base in Rota in southern Spain by 2013, Zapatero said.

Panetta said the Rota arrangement was a “critical step” in deploying the shield after a key agreement last month with Turkey to host a sophisticated US radar, and deals with Romania and Poland to host land-based SM-3 interceptors.  [Space Daily]

You can read more at the link.

Europe will never match the U.S.’s passion for missile defense; but step-by-step, Washington’s NATO partners are moving to build up capacities that could augment and expand the shield the Pentagon is creating.

Progress will be slow and incremental, though, and—in terms of budget expenditure—will remain a mere fraction of what the U.S. commits to the mission area.

Nevertheless, there is clear momentum in Europe to do more, even if the main motivator is industrial base considerations: France wants to ensure that its missile sector does not lose out to U.S. rivals in providing interceptors to European and other forces, and the Netherlands wants to sustain advanced naval radar capacities.

In the NATO context, budgets are less important than symbolic steps, and this is underscored by the members’ recent move to award a €2.5 million ($3.4 million) contract to an industry team led by Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), which will define the first elements of a plan that will enlarge the theater missile defense system to cover NATO territory and populations in Europe. Last year, NATO decided that it wanted to protect territory instead of just deployed forces. It was a long political battle, so this study effort—no matter how paltry the funding—has significant implications for the alliance’s future.

Work under the year-long effort is to be performed at the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency in The Hague, and “the results will then be taken forward for implementation in the NATO command-and-control network to broaden the capabilities of the NATO commander well beyond those demonstrated recently in missile defense testing between the U.S. and NATO elements last month,” the organization said in announcing the contract.

Alessandro Pera, manager for the Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (ALTBMD) program—the command, control and communications backbone for the alliance’s missile shield—says that under the new contract award, “we will work as a team with our industry and national partners, in close consultation with both the NATO military and relevant NATO committees, to ensure we get the job done.”

The NATO contract follows a November 2010 decision at the Lisbon summit to provide the alliance with an additional layer of capability to protect Europe.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands, which has had a longtime interest in a missile shield, is pressing ahead to build up its own capacities. The Dutch defense ministry plans to expand the capabilities of the Thales Smart-L radar on Dutch frigates to take on BMD roles. The program’s value is estimated at €100-250 million, including logistics support and spares.

Other European navies using the sensor may follow the Dutch lead.

Dutch Defense Minister Hans Hillen notes that the Smart-L effort would help address the BMD sensor shortage within the NATO alliance. Citing NATO’s decision last year to take a more expansive approach to BMD, Hillen says Smart-L could give the ALTBMD command-and-control backbone the required long-range target-detection information. The sensor also could provide accurate launch-point detection analysis to help identify where a threat originates.  [Aviation Week]

You can read more at the link to include how Raytheon is promoting its SM-3 missile in an effort to sell it to European allies.

The U.S. is moving ahead quickly with a controversial new radar system in Turkey designed to counter a potential missile threat from Iran, a senior U.S. military official said on Wednesday (see GSN, Sept. 14).

Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, the top Army officer in Europe, told reporters that a team of soldiers was currently in Turkey’s Kürecik district to survey the proposed location of the radar array. Hertling said the U.S hoped to have the radar system installed and operational by the end of the year, though he hinted that date could slide into 2012.

The Turkish system will be paired with a parallel radar array in Poland as part of the Obama administration’s escalating effort to protect European allies — as well as the U.S. military personnel stationed on the continent – from Iranian missile strikes. Iran has in recent months successfully tested next-generation missiles capable of hitting targets throughout Europe.

Hertling downplayed Turkish opposition to the new installation, arguing that popular protests there failed to attract any large crowds. At one recently organized protest “around nine people showed up,” he told reporters in Washington. “I think the Turks are very happy to have us there.”  [Global Security News]

You can read more at the link.

Riki Ellison, Chairman and Founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA), www.missiledefenseadvocacy.org has reviewed the FY2011 Missile Defense Budget released on February 1st by the Department of Defense which offers a substantial increase to the total budget for missile defense. This increase recovers close to half the amount that was cut by the President and Secretary Robert Gates a year ago. Ellison is one of the top lay experts in the world on the topic of missile defense. His comments and observations include the following:

“Early this week, President Barack Obama’s administration and the Department of Defense announced a substantial increase to the 2011 Missile Defense Budget. The amount, $9.42 billion, equals a 6.13 percent increase from the 2010 budget. This increase, $577 million, recovers close to half the amount that was cut by the President and Secretary Robert Gates a year ago. ” [Defence Pros]

People that follow missile defense probably all remember that just back in April the widely publicized cuts in missile defense were announced.  However, the budget was cut, but I did like Secretary Gates strategy of focusing funding on missile defense systems that currently work.

With this new announcement the focusing of money on missile defense that currently works is only continuing:

Among the highlights of the 2011 Missile Defense Budget Request are:

• Increase of development funding of $359 million for the Ground Based Interceptors.
- Plans to construct 38 GBI silos and to buy 56 GBIs.
- A significant reversal from the 30 silos and 44 GBIs from last years request.

• Increase of 249 THAAD (142) and AEGIS SM3 (107) land and sea-based regional missile defense interceptors for a total of 867 by 2015.

• Upgrades of 3 additional Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Ships.

• Addition of three new Missile Defense programs:
- $256 million for the Land-Based SM3 program that will go to over a $1.0 Billion by 2015.
- $99 million to Directed Energy Programs.
- $67 million for a future space based satellite sensor constellation called Precision Tracking Space System (PTSS) that will go to $1.2 Billion by 2015.

• Increase to $1.47 billion (up $31 million) for the AEGIS program.

• Increase to $1.0 billion (up $52 million) for the Patriot Terminal Defense interceptors and systems.

• Increase to $1.11 billion (up $290 million) for missile defense testing and targets.

• Increase to $319 million (up $63 million) for co-development with Japan on the Sea Based SM3-BlockIIa interceptor.

The increased funding into GMD is significant which is interesting considering the failure of the last fight test due to an issue with the SBX sensor.  However, the technology and capability of the GMD program is impressive for those familiar with it and I believe with more testing this can become a more reliable program.  Apparently the President now thinks so as well.

THAAD live fire at the Pacific Missile Range Facility In Hawaii.

What I am most excited about is to see more money being put into the THAAD and AEGIS SM-3 programs.  These are both very successful systems.  Also it was good to see money being poured into the land-based SM-3 program that will allow the missile to deployed in areas that an AEGIS ship cannot access.  Finally considering the failure of the last THAAD flight test due to a target issue it is good to see that more money is being poured into testing and targets.

All in all I continue to believe a solid missile defense strategy is in place by Secretary Gates and President Obama.

Russia said Saturday it will scrap a plan to deploy missiles near Poland since Washington has dumped a planned missile shield in Eastern Europe. It also harshly criticized Iran’s president for new comments denying the Holocaust.

Neither move, however, represented ceding any significant ground. A plan to place Iskander missiles close to the Polish border was merely a threat. And while the Kremlin has previously criticized Tehran for questioning the reality of the Holocaust, Russian leaders have refused to back Western push for tougher sanctions against Iran.

It still remains unclear whether Moscow will make any significant concessions on Iran and other issues in response to President Barack Obama‘s move to scrap the Bush-era plan for U.S. missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic.  [Associated Press]

I doubt the Kremlin will make any concessions other then these cosmetic ones simply because the decision to modify the European missile defense strategy was one I believe largely based on still developing capabilities and budget constraints rather then some grand deal with the Russians.