Free Republic

Proposed US Military buildup under a conservative U.S. Administration circa 2012-2024 CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE The following plan is based on a major US economic turnaround based on sound Free Market principles geared to US interests, energy independendece, a balanced budget, stabilization of Social Security & Medicare & eliminating unessary and wasteful entitlements & entire federal agencies. It is also based,under a conservative leadership in Washington, on adopting lower corporate and individual income taxes so the revenue to the treasury expands and increases significantly which will fuel the buildup necessary to remain technologically superior by two generations...

US Wants a Stake in Israel’s Iron Dome Technology Defense lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are demanding ‘rights to Israel’s Iron Dome Technology’ before releasing the requested $680 million to follow-on production of the Iron Dome anti-rocket weapon systems for Israel, Washington news blog The Hill reports. “The United States has invested nearly $900 million into Iron Dome work, yet it has no rights to the technology involved,” according to the subcommittee’s legislation. The House proposal should share some rights to the weapon’s proprietary technology “as is consistent with prior U.S.-Israeli missile defense cooperation,” according to the subcommittee....

Rota base: Spain readies to participate in US ‘anti-missile shield’ Spain is negotiating the inclusion and participation of its navy F-100 frigates in the US anti ballistic-missile defence system commonly known as the ‘anti-missile shield,’ that is designed to protect Allied and NATO territory. The agreement between Madrid and Washington envisages use of the Rota military base as home port for the deployment of the shield by four US Arleigh Burke class destroyers between 2013- 2015. Defence analysts have stated that Spain would be playing a key role in the naval component of the defence shield, and repositioning its foreign...

The Pentagon has mothballed a laser-equipped jumbo jet after 15 years and $5 billion worth of research to develop an airborne missile defense system. Budget cuts shot down the Airborne Laser Test Bed but some research into anti-missile lasers will continue, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. "We didn't have the funding to continue flying the aircraft," agency spokeswoman Debra Christman told the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/xEnw3z ). The plane, a Boeing 747 mounted with a high-energy chemical laser, has been sent into storage at Davis Monthan Air Force Base, the agency said. The base near Tucson, Ariz., serves...

Russia has threatened Norway with unspecified retaliation if Norway goes along with American suggestions that five Norwegian Nansen class frigates, equipped with the Aegis radar system, are upgraded to use the Aegis BMD (Ballistic Missile Defense) system. Norway has gotten this kind of abuse from Russia in the past, which was the main reason Norway joined NATO (as one of the founding members, in 1949). Norway does not like giving in to these threats, especially since they recently concluded 40 years of negotiations to settle a maritime border dispute with Russia. This enables both countries to proceed with oil and...

IAI signs largest ever deal Israel Aerospace Industries' $1.6 billion contract with an Asian country includes the Green Pine radar - part of the Arrow anti-ballistic missile system. 12 January 12 21:31, Yuval Azoulai Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI) (TASE: ARSP.B1) has signed the second stage of a huge deal with an Asian country, which makes the deal the largest in the company's history - $1.6 billion. IAI notified the TASE on Sunday about the first stage of the deal for the supply of a range of arms system for $1.1 billion to an Asian country. It did not disclose...

Spain’s Aegis Frigates Could Join Europe’s Missile Defense Shield Lajos F. Szaszdi October 13, 2011 at 12:58 pm A week ago, the Spanish government of Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero agreed to Spain’s participation in NATO’s European missile defense system by allowing four U.S. Navy Aegis guided-missile destroyers of the Arleigh Burke class to be stationed at the naval base of Rota, in southwestern Spain. These destroyers are armed with the Standard SM-3 surface-to-air missile (SAM) designed to intercept short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. The U.S. Navy destroyers will be based in Rota beginning in 2013, along with...

S. Korea to develop own Patriot missile to intercept N. Korean missiles: sources SEOUL, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is pushing for the development of its own version of advanced Patriot missiles to counter North Korean ballistic missiles, military sources said Friday. Multiple sources said the state-run Defense Agency for Technology and Quality (DATQ) will complete by the end of this year its preliminary research on long-range surface-to-air missiles (L-SAMs), which could intercept North Korean ballistic missiles or fighter jets at high altitudes. According to the sources, the military will finalize the basic outline for further development around January...

Currently, America's enemies, including China, North Korea, and Iran, are developing ballistic missiles of increasing range and accuracy and deploying them in growing quantities. Some worry that Iran's leaders are not rational and may not be deterrable with nuclear weapons, and that consequently, they will use nuclear weapons first. Some people are worried that nuclear weapons may fall into the hands of similarly intractable terrorists. What is the solution? Is it disarmament? A first strike against Iran? No. The solution is missile defense. Certainly, all possible options (including multilateral negotiations, direct talks, sanctions, cyber-sabotage, economic sabotage, and, as a last...

A pair of low Earth-orbiting demonstration satellites built by Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems for the first time on March 16 detected and tracked a ballistic missile launch through all phases of flight, a Northrop Grumman official said March 22. So-called birth-to-death tracking of a ballistic missile launch had never been done before from space -- and is the most significant achievement to date for the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) spacecraft, said Doug Young, Northrop Grumman’s vice president of missile defense and warning programs. “It’s the Holy Grail for missile defense,” Young said during a media briefing here. [Top...

Raytheon Company and Aerojet, a GenCorp company, completed a kinetic warhead system integration test for Standard Missile-3 Block IB. The test verified the ability of the warhead to detect, track and intercept a moving ballistic missile target in a zero-gravity environment. During the test, a fully operational, flight-weight kinetic warhead operated on an air-bearing test stand and performed in a high-altitude chamber at Aerojet’s Sacramento, Calif., facility. The kinetic warhead’s seeker tracked a simulated target while the guidance computer sent information to the new Throttleable Divert and Attitude Control System. Once the TDACS received the information, the system fired its...

NATO has tweaked and tested its air defense systems to provide coordinated sensor (mainly radar) and control capabilities to support anti-missile missiles. The United States and several other nations have anti-aircraft missile systems that can also knock down ballistic missiles (mainly short range ones.) Now, the NATO air defense system can have additional anti-missile systems added, which the entire system able to coordinate defense against missile attack. The ultimate goal is to install American anti-missile systems capable of stopping longer range ballistic missiles, like those from Iran. This is expected to happen before the end of the decade, or sooner,...

On 27 January 2011, NATO’s first ever theatre ballistic missile defence (TBMD) capability has been handed over to NATO’s military commanders. The handover took place at the NATO Combined Air Operations Centre (CAOC) in Uedem, Germany, in the presence of NATO Deputy Secretary General, Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero, and civil and military authorities from NATO and host nation Germany. The NATO Combined Air Operations Centre demonstrated how this interim capability allows NATO commanders, for the first time ever, to do limited ballistic missile defence planning and exchange information with national ballistic missile defence assets. “The handover of this interim capability marks...

The U.S. Navy has successfully completed a tracking exercise using the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system during Atlantic Trident 2011, which runs through Jan. 25. The guided missile cruiser USS Monterey and destroyers USS Ramage and USS Gonzalez tracked the short-range ballistic missile target launched from NASA’s Wallops (Va.) Flight Facility, the service said Jan. 21. The missile fell harmlessly into the Atlantic Ocean. Monterey and Ramage took turns tracking and simulating engagement of the target while Gonzalez, a guided-missile destroyer, tracked the target, the Navy says. All three ships tracked the missile, and Monterey and Ramage provided simulated...

The IDF’s "Magic Wand" (Sharvit Kesamim) system for intercepting intermediate-range rockets was successfully tested last week, the BaMachane military magazine reports in its latest issue. The tests took place in southern Israel last week and were conducted by the Defense Ministry and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems under the attack conditions that Israel expects. At the end of the experiments it was estimated that the system will become operational within several years. Magic Wand is intended to deal with a wide range of threats, and is essentially designed to fill a gap between the Iron Dome system for short-range missiles, such...

Historically, the Russian Duma acts quickly to ratify international treaties that the country's leaders have signed. In the case of international treaties with the U.S., the process is short and takes place only after U.S. ratification. In an interview with a Soviet ambassador, I was once told that although the process entails several steps, it is pro forma once the treaty is signed by both parties and ratified by the U.S. Congress. The SALT II Treaty, signed by Presidents Carter and Brezhnev in 1979, was never ratified by either party. On Jan. 3, 1980, President Carter requested the Senate majority...

China's Challenge: As tensions elevate on the Korean peninsula, Pyongyang's patron deploys a weapon designed to sink the very ships we are sending to protect an ally. This does not bode well. The prospects that the Korean War, which ended in only an interminable armistice, may resume has become an increasingly real possibility in recent months. That its patron, China, without which North Korea would collapse of its own rot, now has deployed a missile designed to target and sink U.S. carrier battle groups adds a new and disturbing element to any confrontation in the region. Admiral Robert Willard, commander...

Congress wants the U.S. Navy to submit a report by March 31 to show how the service plans to incorporate its ship-based ballistic missile defense requirements with its force structure needs, according to the recently passed defense authorization legislation. The report should include : • An analysis of whether the requirement for sea-based missile defense can be accommodated by upgrading Aegis ships that exist as of the date of the report or by procuring additional combatant surface vessels. • A discussion of whether such sea-based missile defense will require increasing the overall number of combatant surface vessels beyond the requirement...

New generations of enemy missiles, and a willingness to use them, could put air bases under siege like never before. Operating from air bases under threat of missile attack may become one of the most important keys to projecting US airpower in the years ahead. For all its expeditionary experience, it has been decades since the Air Force has so intently focused on this problem. Now, top leadership is again taking it seriously. "The attack against the naval base at Pearl Harbor was recorded in history as a day which will live in infamy," said Air Force Chief of Staff...

Eurosam, the consortium producing SAMP-T is currently competing against U.S, Russian and Chinese bidders for a Turkish national missile defense project expected to be worth $2 billion. Turkey is seeking to establish a national missile defense that will be separate from the NATO missile defense shield launched by the European alliance in Lisbon last week. Apart from SAMP/T from Eurosam, Turkey is also considering the Patriot PAC-3 from Lockheed Martin, the Russia’s S-400 built by the Russian missile consortium Almaz, and Chinese FD-2000. Turkey considers fielding four sites, the first to be established in Istanbul and Ankara, with two other...

Turkey said it would seek a leading role in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization missile-defense shield if it is to agree to host the system's radars, ratcheting up its conditions days before a key alliance meeting. Turkey would demand that NATO assign a Turkish commander to oversee the shield, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday. "Especially if this is to be placed on our soil, [command] definitely should be given to us—otherwise it is not possible to accept," Mr. Erdogan told journalists at Istanbul's Ataturk airport on Monday, according to Anadolu Ajansi, Turkey's state-funded news agency

late October, a Japanese Kongo class destroyer shot down a ballistic missile off Hawaii, using its Aegis anti-missile system. That makes three successful Aegis tests for Japan's Aegis equipped destroyers, out of four attempts. Overall, Aegis has been successful in 85 percent of its test firings. Currently, the U.S. Navy has 20 ships with the Aegis anti-missile system. Within three years, the navy will have 27 such ships. But in the meantime, the Aegis ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile)s are in high demand by U.S. commanders, seeking some protection from hostile missiles in their area of operation. Japan has six Aegis ABM...

Northrop Grumman is highlighting its deep experience on early intercept of ballistic missile threats to compete for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) next-generation ballistic missile interceptor currently planned for fielding in 2020. The company announced that it has submitted a proposal for the Next Generation Aegis Missile's (NGAM) concept definition and program planning phase set to get underway in 2011. The new interceptor will be designed to provide early intercept capability against some short range ballistic missiles, all medium range ballistic missiles, all intermediate range ballistic missiles and non-advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles.

After months of deliberations, the IDF has decided to store the Iron Dome anti-rocket system at an air force base in the center of the country and to deploy it only in cases of extreme rocket fire from either the Gaza Strip or southern Lebanon, senior military sources said on Sunday. The decision was made ahead of the planned announcement that Iron Dome had reached “initial operational capability,” initially scheduled for this month. On Sunday, top IDF officers told The Jerusalem Post that the initial operational capability would be postponed until the first quarter of 2011. The delay, the officers...

A Nato missile shield project that singles out Iran as a threat will be unacceptable to Turkey, President Abdullah Gul said in an interview broadcast Monday. “Nato is a defence organisation. A defence system is being developed against anyone in the world who has ballistic missiles and does not belong to Nato,” Gul said. “Mentioning one country, Iran… is wrong and will not happen. A particular country will not be targeted…We will definitely not accept that,” he said in an interview with the BBC’s Turkish service, aired on Turkish television. Nato and the United States want to set up a...

You read the story back in September, that Northrop Grumman's AAQ-47 distributed aperture system (DAS) for the F-35 tracked SpaceX's first Falcon 9 booster launch during a test flight on the company's BAC One-Eleven testbed. The feat was hailed as showing the 360-deg, multi-camera IR sensor's potential for use in missile defense. Now you can judge for yourself, as Northrop has released video from the June flight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZrvAFRhQZc The blurb with the release says: "The video generated by DAS during the flight test has been magnified 10 times to allow clearer viewing of the rocket. Unlike other sensors, DAS detects...

Israel's military has begun constructing a third battery of long-range, high-altitude Arrow anti-missile interceptors near Tel Aviv to boost defenses against Iranian ballistic missiles. The planned deployment, and a scramble to develop and install other systems to counter short- and medium-range missiles and rockets, underlines the Jewish state's growing fears that its cities and towns face a missile bombardment of unprecedented scale and ferocity. The existing batteries of Arrow-2 interceptors, jointly produced by state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries and the Boeing Co., are deployed at an air force base in southern Israel and another near the city of Hadera in the...

As space becomes more important to military operations, the flimsiness of the laws and conventions that govern space operations is more apparent. It’s not so much that the structure has become weaker as that technological and industrial developments have exposed its failings. Recent years have seen a satellite shoot-down demonstration by China in January 2007, followed a year later by the U.S. shoot-down of the malfunctioning USA 193 spacecraft. There have also been reported incidents of deliberate non-kinetic interference with U.S. spacecraft. Analyst Dean Cheng of the Heritage Foundation, speaking at a symposium on deterrence in Omaha, Neb., noted that...

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and the United States Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced the successful completion of an Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) intercept flight test, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy, off the coast of Kauai in Hawaii. The event marked the fourth time that a JMSDF ship has engaged a ballistic missile target, including three successful intercepts, with the sea-based midcourse engagement capability provided by Aegis BMD. The JFTM-4 test event verified the newest engagement capability of the Japan Aegis BMD configuration of the recently upgraded Japanese destroyer, JS KIRISHIMA. At approximately 5:06 p.m. (HST), 12:06...

combat system-equipped Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). Orlando Carvalho, president of Lockheed Martin's MS2 division, told reporters at Euronaval in Paris that the Saudi Navy was looking at the purchase of eight LCS-variant ships, called Surface Combat Ships, equipped with the lightweight SPY-1F Aegis system as part of an expansion of the oil-rich state's naval forces. They have also shown an interest in the ballistic missile defence (BMD) capabilities of Aegis. Both Austal USA and Lockheed Martin are awaiting the outcome of the LCS programme. Lockheed Martin is offering its Freedom-class single hull vessel, while Austal is competing with its Independence-class...

Preliminary indications are that the so-called Airborne Laser Test Bed tracked the target's exhaust plume but did not hand off to a second, "active tracking" system as a prelude to firing the high-powered chemical laser, said Richard Lehner, an MDA spokesman. "The transition didn't happen," he said. "Therefore, the high-energy lasing did not occur." Boeing produces the airframe and is the project's prime contractor, while Northrop Grumman supplies the high-energy laser and Lockheed Martin Corp has been developing the beam- and fire-control systems. Defense Secretary Robert Gates scaled back the program into a research experiment last year. About $4 billion...

The development raised further concerns that Turkish foreign policy was tilting outside the sphere of the Western alliance towards alignment with its eastern neighbour. A Turkish official said Ahmed Davutoglu, Turkey's foreign minister, had opened "negotiations" on the targeting of the missiles at a preliminary meeting in Brussels last week. Turkey said it does not want the system to exclusively target any neighbouring country. "Within this frame, we do not lean towards the idea of defining countries like Iran, Syria and Russia as threats," a foreign ministry official said. "The minister has conveyed our opinion on the subject." Nato's policy...

Turkey's Islamist-rooted government faces making a difficult decision that pits maintaining good relations with its neighbours against joining a NATO missile shield directed against Iran. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought in recent years to boost Turkey's ties in the region -- raising suspicions he is moving the country out of the West's orbit -- and will now have to make a decision that will be viewed as a test of its commitment to its NATO partners. The US plan to build a network of ballistic missile interceptors in Europe has been taken up by NATO, partly in order...

US Missile Defense Agency offered Blue Sparrow targets By Arie Egozi Rafael and Raytheon are offering the Israeli company's Blue Sparrow air-launched target to the US Missile Defense Agency. Developed for use in support of the Israel Aerospace Industries Arrow anti-ballistic missile system, the Blue Sparrow is being promoted to the MDA because some of its current targets have failed during tests, an industry source says. The offer under consideration includes the launch of four Blue Sparrows from an adapted passenger aircraft. "This will allow us to test defence systems against salvoes of ballistic missiles," the source says. The Blue...

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he has ordered the deployment of a new missile defense system and a sophisticated tracking radar to respond to any North Korean missile launch that threatens Hawaii. Meanwhile, America's top military officer says the U.S. Navy is prepared to try to stop North Korean ships suspected of carrying weapons banned by a new United Nations Security Council resolution. Secretary Gates says the United States is watching North Korea's missile launch preparations "very closely" and he has ordered a new high-altitude missile interceptor system deployed to Hawaii, along with a floating radar system to provide...

Missile Defense Agency officials are briefing lawmakers this week about the agency’s decision to cancel the competition for the Medium-Range Ballistic Missile Target class due to a lack of money. In a June 25 agency announcement posted on Federal Business Opportunities, MDA states that “sufficient funds are not available” to make a contract award for the MRBM Type 1 Target program. Consequently, “the solicitation was canceled,” the notice adds. In response to an Inside Missile Defense query, an MDA spokesman declined to comment in “advance of providing cancellation information to Congress.” “We’ve been receiving requests for info so I’m guessing...

The Missile Defense Agency and Lockheed Martin conducted a successful flight test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Weapon System at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, HI. This flight test was THAAD's seventh intercept to date and proved the system's ability to intercept a unitary target in the low endo-atmosphere. There were many THAAD flight test program "firsts" accomplished during FTT-14, including the lowest endo-atmospheric intercept to date; use of fielded THAAD ground segment hardware and software from the THAAD production program; and the first live mission to demonstrate automatic engagement coordination between THAAD and Patriot....

Terma and Lockheed Martin have jointly developed a Ballistic Missile Defense C4I system called BMD-Flex. The system is based on Terma's T-Core C4I framework, fielded in several European Army, Navy, and Air Force systems. Lockheed Martin provides modular Command and Control (C2) products for decision support and battle management as well as system-of-systems expertise to extend BMD-Flex capabilities. A classic ground-based air defense C2 system built in a modern service-oriented architecture and in an open-architecture framework has the ability to give legacy systems a second life cycle by adding specific content and enabling a growth path for enhancements needed to...

The Pentagon’s Airborne Laser (ABL) is being prepared for a late July test in which it will attempt to shoot down an ascending target missile from twice the distance of the aircraft’s previous intercept tests, the program’s top official said. Originally conceived as an operational military system that would use a high-power chemical laser to destroy ballistic missiles in the early stages of flight, the ABL platform — only one has been built — has been relegated to the role of technology test-bed. The program is funded by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) through September, but its future is...

Jointly developed by IAI and Boeing in the US, the Arrow 3 will serve as Israel’s top-tier missile defense system, adding another layer of defense to that provided by the Arrow 2, which is already operational and deployed throughout Israel. The initial test of the Arrow 3 will not include the interception of a mock enemy missile. An interception test will likely take place in 2012. “The Arrow system can effectively counter all of the missile threats that exist in the region,” said Inbal Kreiss, the Arrow 3 project manager at IAI. Kreiss, who spoke at the New Tech conference...

By backpedaling on a campaign promise to move a U.S. Marine Corps airbase from Okinawa, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama may have nonetheless secured additional airborne cruise missile and tactical ballistic missile defenses for Japan. China is seen as the cruise missile threat since it has developed a new, faster, long-range weapon that can be launched from its Su-27MKK strike fighter fleet. North Korea has the greater fear factor, however, because of its suspected nuclear ballistic missile capability and its government’s erratic behavior and apparent aggressions, such as the alleged sinking of a South Korea warship. Okinawa is already home...

A U.S. Patriot missile battery has arrived in Poland as part of an agreement to upgrade the NATO ally's air defenses, the U.S. embassy said on Monday, in a deployment likely to irritate neighboring Russia.The battery, manned by up to 150 U.S. troops, will be stationed for about one month four times a year in Morag, northern Poland, close to Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad. Its main mission is to train Polish military personnel. U.S. troops were unloading 37 railway cars of equipment on Monday, the embassy said. U.S. and Polish officials are due to visit the site on Wednesday and...

The US House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly backed President Barack Obama's plans to help Israel deploy an anti-missile system, in an unmistakable election-year show of support. By a 410-4 margin, lawmakers endorsed Obama's plan to give Israel 205 million dollars for its production of a short-range rocket defense system called "Iron Dome." "With nearly every square inch of Israel at risk from rocket and missile attacks, we must ensure that our most important ally in the region has the tools to defend itself," said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman. "The looming threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, and...

When the New York Times covers a weapons program we tend to take note, in part because they do so it so rarely. And when they put it on the front page, above the fold, we take even more note. The Times did just that this morning, trumpeting a tale about how a veteran missile defense sceptic at MIT, Ted Postol, and a Cornell University colleague, George Lewis, performed an analysis of SM-3 tests and came away convinced that the system does not work very well. Now my first reaction was deep skepticism. After all this has appeared to be...

Poland will unveil its first US Patriot-type missiles battery at a military base in the northern town of Morag on May 26, a Polish defence ministry spokesman said Tuesday, AFP reports. "Ceremonies associated with the first rotation of the Patriot missile battery will be held Wednesday, May 26, in Morag", spokesman Janusz Sejmej said in a statement. Asked by AFP, the defence ministry's press service declined Tuesday to provide further details. The Polish military base at Morag, in the Mazurian Lakes region, is some 250 kilometres (150 miles) north of Warsaw and just 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the border...

The budgetary difficulty that has been delaying Israel's armament with the anti-missile defense system Iron Dome has apparently been resolved. The Pentagon has issued a message to Israel's Defense Ministry that U.S. President Barack Obama has approved the transfer of special assistance totaling $205 million (just under NIS 800 million) for the purchase of more than ten Iron Dome batteries. Iron Dome defense system gets new backer: Barack Obama U.S. agrees to fund anti-missile defense system, long delayed due to budgetary difficulties, beyond regular annual defense assistance afforded to Israel. The budgetary difficulty that has been delaying Israel's armament with...

The rapid development and deployment of cruise and ballistic missile capabilities in recent years has raised the security stakes on the South Asian subcontinent. The three major nuclear states—India, China and Pakistan—have been sharpening their respective missile capabilities and stockpiling a growing arsenal, while simultaneously developing/acquiring ballistic missile defense (BMD) capability to defend against potential threats. China has also developed a potent nuclear triad (i.e. strategic bombers, land-based missiles, and ballistic missile submarines) that Pakistan may be able to acquire given the close relations between Beijing and Islamabad, India will soon achieve this capability after the nuclear submarine INS Arihant...

Israel has held preliminary technical talks with NATO that could lay the groundwork for joint missile defenses, an alliance official said on Wednesday.Citing a perceived threat from Iran, NATO has called on its 28 members to agree at a November summit in Lisbon to develop jointly a missile defense system to protect Europe. While not a member of NATO, Israel has boosted cooperation with the alliance as part of its preparations for a possible show-down with the Iranians. Appearing at a conference outside Tel Aviv, Alan Berry of NATO's Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense Program Office was asked about...

The head of NATO Wednesday put the cost of linking up the alliance's missile defense systems at less than 200 million euros ($260 million), and said it was a small price to pay to protect citizens.NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been urging the 28 NATO states to agree to the system at a summit in Lisbon in November, citing an increased threat from Iran, but alliance members have questioned the cost. The project envisages creating an alliance command and control system to link existing national missile defenses and extend NATO-wide protection beyond that which the alliance already provides to...

Japan remains fully committed to building a linchpin multibillion-dollar missile interceptor with the United States, the head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency told Congress, even as U.S.-Japanese ties adjust to a new era. Army Lieutenant General Patrick O'Reilly said on Wednesday he had held several high-level program reviews with Japanese government officials since the Democratic Party of Japan's victory in the August 30, 2009, elections for the legislature's lower house. "They have indicated that they are in full support and their commitments are solid," he told the Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee, referring to a Standard Missile-3 upgrade program in...