| Commentary by James Hackett, edited for missile defense info: |
Twenty-one years ago today, Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) to protect this country from the very real threat of nuclear destruction. Determined political opposition and severe constraints of the ABM treaty delayed the effort until a president with the political courage to make it happen was in office. That president was George W. Bush, and now the first units of a national missile defense are about to be fielded.This year, 2004, is the year of missile defense.
| John "Flip Flop" Kerry is, as usual, on both sides of the fence. He voted against National Missile Defense (NMD) in 96 & 98, voted Yes in 1999, and is officially against it now. (subject to change, your mileage may vary) |
In about 90 days, the first interceptor will be lowered into its silo at Fort Greely, Alaska, and shortly thereafter will be put on alert to begin defending the country. By the end of the year, six interceptors will be on duty in Alaska and four at Vandenberg AFB in California. President Bush ordered an initial defense to be ready by Oct. 1, but the Missile Defense Agency plans to put the system on alert as soon as the capability exists to defend against a single missile, probably sometime this summer.
| Excellent, I didn't know they were this far along. |
Ten more interceptors will be added in Alaska next year, plus 10 ship-based interceptors. Another 10, perhaps at a third site yet to be determined, are in the 2005 budget to be operational in 2006. In less than one term, President Bush has gone from zero missile defenses to a system that will grow to more than 40 interceptors over the next three years. If he wins a second term, the system will be improved steadily in block upgrades to become a layered complex of land- and sea-based defenses, supported by space-based sensors and communications, to stop missiles in any phase of flight.
| Nothing is leak-proof, but one hell of a lot better than nothing. |
With oceans on both sides of the country, sea-based defenses are important but could not even be considered under the ABM treaty. President Bush's withdrawal from that treaty made sea-based defenses possible. Next year, the big ABM radar now being installed on a seagoing platform on the Texas Gulf coast will sail around Cape Horn to the North Pacific, where it will operate near Adak Island, Alaska. Such a floating radar can go where the threat is greatest and avoids the need for another country to approve a radar base. A second sea-based radar is to be added later, probably in the North Atlantic.
In addition, the SPY-1 radars on up to 20 Aegis cruisers and destroyers are being upgraded for missile defense duty. The Navy plans to have five SM-3 interceptors on three Aegis cruisers "on alert" by early next year.
| Looks like the first one will be on station in the Sea of Japan in Sept. |
Ten more interceptors will be added by the end of 2005, and 40 more over the next two years. The SM-3 is a 3-stage interceptor that can stop the kind of missiles North Korea has tested. Aegis ships will play an important role in a worldwide network of missile defenses on land and sea. And allies that often dragged their feet, ranging from Japan and Taiwan to Canada, Australia and India, are now lining up to join the effort.
But why is all this necessary, considering the Soviet collapse and Russia's change to a friendly nation? In the 1990s, a new threat emerged as China, India, Pakistan, Iran and North Korea tested ballistic missiles of increasingly greater range. India and Pakistan also tested nuclear weapons, and North Korea, Iran and Libya were secretly developing them.
Finally, North Korea's launch of a three-stage missile that could be modified to reach the U.S. mainland brought home the danger even to many opponents of missile defense.
| They see a danger, they just don't admit to it. |
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