Facts on missile defense

International Cooperation on Missile Defense

An excerpt from a speech delivered by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance and Implementation Paula A. DeSutter on April 4, 2006. [the full text of the speech can be found here]. 

SELECTED AREAS OF MISSILE DEFENSE COOPERATION

JAPAN

Japan formally reached a decision to deploy a multi-layered defensive system in December 2003, which will involve the purchase of the U.S. AEGIS BMD [ballistic missile defense] system and the Patriot PAC-3, as a “purely defensive measure to protect the lives and property of citizens of Japan” against ballistic missile attacks by rogue states.  In addition to deploying PAC-3 interceptors, the Japanese Defense Agency also plans to equip Maritime Self-Defense Forces destroyers with SM-3 interceptors.

In the December 2004 Japanese National Defense Program Outline, which is a QDR-type [quadrennial defense review] of defense policy statement, missile defense was specifically identified as a necessary capability.  The statement explicitly identified equipment and technology cooperation with the U.S. as a means of developing a Missile Defense capability.  In December 2004, Japan and the U.S. signed a Framework Memorandum of Understanding on Missile Defense cooperation.

In October 2005, Secretaries Rice and Rumsfeld and their Japanese counterparts released a major report on defense transformation and realignment.  The report calls for the deployment of a U.S. Forward-Deployed X-band transportable radar to Japan.  This deployment will complement -– not replace –- our Aegis Long-Range Surveillance & Tracking destroyers already stationed in the Sea of Japan and will provide benefits to both the U.S. and Japan.  In addition, we are currently exploring other areas for Missile Defense cooperation, including cooperative development of next generation interceptors.  Recently, on March 8, the U.S. and Japan successfully completed a cooperative flight-test of the SM-3 with a modified, Japanese-designed, advanced nosecone. 

AUSTRALIA

In December 2003, Australia announced its decision to participate in the U.S. Missile Defense program.  Subsequently, the U.S. and Australia signed in July 2004, a Framework Memorandum of Understanding on Missile Defense Cooperation, and a Research & Development MoU was signed in October 2005.  Three specific cooperative projects -- involving the Over-the-Horizon Radar, modeling and simulation, and fusion and tracking technologies -- are currently under discussion.  On August 16, 2005, Canberra announced it had chosen the U.S. firm Gibbs and Cox as the preferred designer for their navy's air warfare destroyers worth up to $6 Billion Australian Dollars.  Three vessels are currently funded, with the first scheduled to be operational in 2013.  Each will be equipped with AEGIS sensors and will be interoperable with the military forces of the United States and with those of other future coalition partners.  Although Australia may not currently see a ballistic missile threat to its territory, its purpose for pursuing bilateral U.S.-Australia Missile Defense cooperation is based on maintaining a close alliance relationship with the United States and providing Australian industry with an opportunity for industrial cooperation and technology transfer.

NATO

Contractor feasibility studies on Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense were completed early in 2003 and a Missile Defense technical blueprint was established that NATO Defense Ministers approved in June 2004.  Since then NATO has committed financial resources to developing and acquiring an operational command and control, planning, and execution capability for the protection of deployed military forces.  By 2010, the Alliance expects to have the capability to protect deployed military forces against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. 

NATO country Heads of State and Government at the 2002 Prague Summit agreed to study options for protecting Alliance territory and population against ballistic missile threats of all ranges.  NATO will be examining these missile defense options based on a multinational contractor study.

[The 2006 NATO Summit in Riga also dealt with missile defense issues.  For details please consult the “Riga Summit Declaration“]

NATO-RUSSIA

NATO’s cooperative efforts with Russia are being conducted in the Theater Missile Defense Ad Hoc Working Group (AHWG) of the NATO-Russia Council, or NRC.  Work to enable potential joint missile defense operations has included a glossary of missile defense-related terminology in English, French and Russian, and the development of an Experimental Concept of Operations [CONOPS] for use in joint crisis response operations. 

This Experimental CONOPs was used in a NRC missile defense-related Command Post Exercise/Simulation held in March 2004 at the Joint National Integration Center in Colorado Springs. A second NATO-Russia Command Post Exercise was completed in The Netherlands in March 2005. 

Additionally, the Ad Hoc Working Group is currently working on an "Interoperability Study".  Interoperability of NATO and Russian MD systems in the event our forces are deployed together as part of a coalition -- in an out-of-area, non-Article V -- operation is a useful goal.

RUSSIA

The U.S. and Russia are continuing to talk about concrete cooperative projects in the field of Missile Defense, such as cooperation on targets for testing the U.S. BMD System and radar data sharing.  The U.S. and Russia conducted a fourth missile defense-related Command Post Exercise simulation in Moscow in April 2005; the U.S. has proposed a fifth exercise later this month.  The U.S. and Russia are negotiating a Defense Technical Cooperation Agreement, or DTCA, which would facilitate government-to-government, as well as industry-to-industry, Missile Defense cooperation.  The USG is keeping Moscow informed about U.S. Missile Defense plans and programs in State-MFA and DoD-MoD channels.

ISRAEL

Through the jointly funded U.S.-Israel ARROW II System Improvement Program, the U.S. is currently assisting Israel in upgrading the performance of its operational Arrow system to give the system greater capability against longer-range threats of greater sophistication.  Also, this program is aimed at facilitating interoperability with U.S. systems, and will provide for periodic testing of the Arrow II system at a U.S. test range.  For example, in July and August 2004, the Israeli Arrow system and its Arrow II interceptors were tested from the Pt. Magu Sea Range in California.  Finally, Boeing is co-producing components of the Arrow II interceptor for Israel.

GERMANY, ITALY, AND THE UNITED STATES

Germany, Italy, and the U.S. are jointly pursuing the Medium Extended Air Defense System, or MEADS.  This R&D project is intended to develop a highly mobile MD system for defending against short- to medium-range threats.  MEADS is scheduled to be fielded in 2014 and would be a replacement for Patriot.

DENMARK

In August 2004, the United States and Denmark, including the Home Rule Government of Greenland, signed agreements that permit upgrades to the U.S. early warning radar at Thule Air Base, Greenland.  These upgrades will enhance our capability to detect and defend against ballistic missile attacks launched from the Middle East.  A bilateral Framework Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate missile defense cooperation between the United States and Denmark was signed in October 2005.  This agreement will allow Danish access to U.S. missile defense technologies and give Danish companies better access to partnerships with U.S. companies in the development of missile defense technologies.

THE UNITED KINGDOM

In February 2003, the U.K. agreed to the U.S. request to upgrade the early warning radar at Fylingdales, U.K., for Missile Defense purposes.  Defense Minister Hoon and Defense Secretary Rumsfeld signed a Framework MoU on June 12, 2003, which establishes the basis of the U.S.-U.K. industrial relationship in the field of missile defense.  An Annex to the Framework MoU regarding the Fylingdales radar was signed in December 2003, which delineates the roles and responsibilities of the U.S. and U.K. for the upgrades.  A 2nd Annex on bilateral Missile Defense-related RDT&E was signed in October 2004.  The U.S. has provided Missile Defense-related “situational awareness” displays to the U.K., which obviously reflects the closeness of our relationship.