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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 10 2005, 11:55 AM (273 Views) | |
| ikara | Oct 10 2005, 11:55 AM Post #1 |
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Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor October 10, 2005 The US missile defence program, initially written off by sceptics as a waste of money and effort, can already intercept and destroy a North Korean ballistic missile aimed at the US mainland. On a brief visit to Australia, US Missile Defence Agency director Henry Obering said the program already had nine missile interceptors between California and Alaska. The system is mainly being configured to cope with missiles launched from North Korea or the Middle East, but it will ultimately have the ability to cope with missiles from anywhere. Australia is deeply involved in the program as one of just four nations with full missile defence co-operation agreements with the US. The others are Britain, Japan and Italy. Australia's primary involvement is in research and development, with further co-operation through the Pine Gap satellite communications facility in central Australia. However, the Howard Government has announced plans to buy three air warfare capable destroyers with the Aegis missile defence system. This will provide defence against missiles aimed at deployed Australian forces, naval or army, and could also provide some limited defence to points on the Australian mainland. And Australia could in the future buy a more comprehensive missile defence. Lieutenant-General Obering said Australian industry could make a real contribution to missile defence. "There are some very significant capabilities in Australian industry that could be jointly pursued. We don't have all the answers in the US. Many of our threat nations around the world are collaborating against us." Lieutenant-General Obering, with a budget this year of $US6.4 billion ($8.45 billion) for development and $US1.4 billion to operate the existing system, said more countries were moving towards missile defence, with the US in the process of negotiating agreements with a number of other friendly nations and allies. "Increasing numbers of nations are realising that other means of defence are not sufficient," he told The Australian. "Many actors are just not deterrable. We're beginning to understand fully what it's like to be in the post-Cold War world." He said be believed the political and the technical arguments against a missile defence system were now a thing of the past. He said the technical arguments were lost in the first Iraq war, when Saddam Hussein was able to inflict significant loss of life on allied forces with missiles. In the second Iraq war, all his missiles were intercepted in the air. In terms of the political battle, the program now has bipartisan support in the US, and increasing numbers of militaries around the world, such as the Germans and the Dutch, are pursuing their own missile defence. Lieutenant-General Obering said although there were still technical issues to overcome, the basic utility of missile defence had been well established. "This is not easy, building these types of capabilities," he said. "We're on a path to handle more complex threat suites. It couldn't handle a Russian or Chinese attack and it's not designed for that." Instead, he said, the system was designed to handle a rogue nation or terrorist missile attack. He said the impetus for developing the system in the US came from an event that did not involve missiles -- the September 11 terror attacks. "The major lesson was not the method of attack but the demonstration of will to inflict major damage on us," he said. "Not being able to protect yourself against even a short-range missile is very bad." http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/commo...5E31477,00.html |
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3:02 PM Jul 13