MISSILE DEFENSE BRIEFING REPORT

American Foreign Policy Council ^ | June 20, 2003 | Ilan Berman, ed.

[bruinbirdman]

IRAQ'S LOSS, IRAN'S GAIN
The recent fall of Saddam Hussein's regime appears to have given an unexpected boost to the missile activities of its eastern neighbor. London's Daily Telegraph (June 15) reports that Iran has begun efforts to recruit newly-unemployed Iraqi scientists to assist its ballistic missile program. According to the British daily, the Islamic Republic tops the list of a number of countries - including Syria and North Korea - now actively wooing employees of Iraq's defunct Military Industrialization Commission (MIC). Of particular interest to Tehran are scientists with experience in solid propellant technologies, which are essential to expanding the range of Iranian ballistic missiles.

SEA-BASED DEFENSE STUMBLES
The Missile Defense Agency's most recent test of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system has ended in failure, the Associated Press (June 18) reports. The unsuccessful trial involved the attempted interception of an Aries target missile launched from the Pacific Missile Test Range in Kauai, Hawaii by a SM-3 missile fired from the USS Erie somewhere in the Pacific. The June 18th attempt was the fourth such test of the SM-3 against an Aries target, and the first one to conclude unsuccessfully.

U.S., RUSSIA MAP OUT MISSILE DEFENSE AGENDA
As part of growing coordination on missile defense, Washington and Moscow are planning to hold joint missile defense exercises in Russia early next year. "We have offered to conduct bilateral exercises with the Americans to test theater missile defense [TMD] systems, in which NATO countries will be observers," Russian Deputy General Staff Chief Yuriy Baluyevsky has told the Interfax news agency (June 17). The purpose of the joint drills will be to test the compatibility of Russian and U.S. missile defense technologies and allow both sides to "practice computer simulation with the involvement of specialists," according to Baluyevsky. Plans for cooperative missile defense exercises between Russia and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are also currently being discussed under the auspices of the NATO-Russia Council's new missile defense working group, he revealed.

DEFINING NATO'S MISSILE SHIELD
NATO, meanwhile, has just announced plans for a major Alliance missile defense study. The June 16th edition of Aerospace Daily reports that the organization's defense ministers have agreed on a comprehensive, 18-month review designed to flesh out NATO's future missile defense architecture. The survey, to be kicked off at this October's informal NATO summit in Colorado Springs, will study options to protect member states "against the full range of missile threats," NATO said in a formal statement. The move reflects a growing consensus within the Alliance about the need for protection against ballistic missile attack. "Missile defense is without any doubt a major building block towards transformation of the Alliance to meet new security threats," says Robert Bell, NATO's assistant secretary general for defense investment.

CRACKS IN THE MOSCOW-TEHRAN ALLIANCE?
Despite an official Kremlin policy of strategic cooperation with Iran, the Islamic Republic could soon pose a major threat to the Russian Federation, an important new study has warned. The report, published by Russia's respected PIR Centre and detailed in the June 17th Financial Times, estimates that Tehran's strides towards an offensive atomic capability, coupled with its advances in ballistic missile development, could allow it to field a nuclear-capable rocket by 2006, far sooner than previously expected. Such a capability, the policy paper predicts, would threaten 20 million people in Russia's Astrakhan and Volgograd regions, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

A CHANCE TO ENGAGE AUSTRALIA
Despite recent indications that it has only limited plans for missile defense, Australia is nevertheless planning to expand its dialogue on the issue with the United States. Canberra has not ruled out collaboration with Washington on an American-led missile shield in Asia, the country's ABC News Online (June 17) reports Defense Minister Robert Hill as saying. According to him, the Australian government will consider "all options" in protecting the country from ballistic missile threats, leaving open the possibility that missile defense could still become a cornerstone of future U.S.-Australian ties.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the info!

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Iranian Alert -- DAY 11 -- LIVE THREAD PING LIST

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

CRACKS IN THE MOSCOW-TEHRAN ALLIANCE?
Despite an official Kremlin policy of strategic cooperation with Iran, the Islamic Republic could soon pose a major threat to the Russian Federation, an important new study has warned. The report, published by Russia's respected PIR Centre and detailed in the June 17th Financial Times, estimates that Tehran's strides towards an offensive atomic capability, coupled with its advances in ballistic missile development, could allow it to field a nuclear-capable rocket by 2006, far sooner than previously expected. Such a capability, the policy paper predicts, would threaten 20 million people in Russia's Astrakhan and Volgograd regions, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

The Mullahs are collecting enemies fast!!!!!

[dixiechick2000]

Now I'm doubly gobsmacked!!! Russia will be coming back into the fold.

Thanks for the ping!