Missile Defense - quick and dirty

The United States successfully tracked a simulated enemy ballistic missile on last Friday, July 18, and relayed its course to a Ground-based Midcourse Defense firing system in Colorado. According to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the tracking of the long-range target, which incorporated evasive signaling, was the most rigorous test so far of U.S. missile defense control systems. The test “successfully demonstrated the integration of [Raytheon-build] missile defense sensors required to support an interceptor engagement," said Pete Franklin, vice president of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems National & Theater Security Programs.

As you might remember, the United States and Poland already reached an agreement in principle and a tentative deal. Both were so incredibly long-lasting that the parties are still making progress in their negotiations: according to the Warsaw Business Journal the parties are – once again – closer in their efforts in negotiating a deal to place anti-missile defense on Polish soil after a Monday meeting. I am really eager to see how the next breakthrough will be praised.

Just a side note, as reported on The Moscow Times: “Meanwhile, in a coincidence that defies all odds, the Russian supply of oil to the Czech Republic experienced mysterious technical problems.”

There are also some developments in the missile defense field on a smaller scale: Japan scheduled its first PAC-3 test for the week of September 15 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. So far Japan possesses four PAC-3 systems which have been installed around Tokyo. Additional Japanese bases are expected to receive PAC-3 systems by March 2011.