US and NATO want Russia to host key parts of missile defense system

Rejecting Russia’s contention that a NATO missile defense system threatens that country’s strategic forces, the US has invited Russia to take part in deploying the interceptor system meant to shield NATO countries from potential missile attacks from the Middle East.

The [missile defense] system is and will continue to be capable of countering small numbers of launches of modest sophistication from the south. It has no capability to counter Russian strategic forces, given their location, numbers, and advanced technology,” said Ellen Tauscher, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. “We have said that publicly and privately, at many levels. We are prepared to put it in writing.” Speaking to a Washington, DC, forum on 18 October, Tauscher acknowledged, however, that the US won’t make a legally binding written commitment, as Russia has demanded, or agree to not further develop the antimissile technology.

Russia contends that the Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense that NATO has begun to install in Europe could shoot down its intercontinental ballistic missiles. But US officials insist that the ALTBMD is incapable of intercepting Russian missiles, which are located deep within the country. In remarks to the UN General Assembly on 27 September, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said the US missile defense system could “undermine the basics of strategic stability.” He declared, “We need solid legal guarantees that missile defense potential will actually be adequate to the declared objectives and will not disrupt global and regional balances.”

But Tauscher urged Russia to reject its cold war thinking. “We want to move from a world of mutually assured destruction to a world of mutually assured stability,” she said. US-Russian cooperation on missile defense “could be a game-changer,” and she cautioned that Russia must accept the US offer soon. “The aperture to join the system will close eventually.” The US and its NATO allies are offering to locate a radar data coordination center and an operations center in Russia, she said. That would permit Russia to ensure that the system is used solely for defending against ballistic missiles from other nations.

A report issued by the Federation of American Scientists in September argued that the Russian fears could be legitimate when higher-velocity versions of the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors that are to be deployed in the NATO missile defense system are introduced in 2018. “Even a missile defense system that could be rendered ineffective could still elicit serious concern from cautious Russian planners,” said the report, authored by MIT physicist Theodore Postol and FAS consultant Yousaf Butt. Leaving aside whether the NATO interceptors might be foiled by countermeasures, the report said that today’s SM-3s aren’t fast enough to intercept Russian ICBMs unless the SM-3s happen to be fortuitously located beneath a given Russian ICBM warhead flight path.

In remarks to the Atlantic Council forum, Lieutenant General Patrick O’Reilly, director of the Missile Defense Agency, invited Russian observers to attend future test launches of the SM-3 interceptor. “Russia should actively participate in our flight test program so they can verify for themselves,” O’Reilly said. The interceptors that are to be deployed on European soil and aboard US warships are small, weighing just 2 MT, he said, and their range “is not effective for strategic purposes.” Russia, he added, has sophisticated sensor technology that it could contribute to the NATO missile defense system.

Spain agreed earlier this month to harbor four US warships, which O’Reilly said could each carry more than 100 interceptors. Use of Spanish ports will allow the US to respond more rapidly in a crisis by reducing ship transit time. The first of the ships, the cruiser USS Monterrey, in March became the first US ballistic missile defense asset deployed to Europe for the defense of NATO. On 14 September, the US announced that Turkey has agreed to host a missile defense radar, a development Tauscher said will significantly increase the area that can be defended by warships carrying the Aegis ballistic missile defense system. The radar should be in place by the end of this year, she added.

Also in September, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Romania’s foreign minister signed an agreement for the US to build an SM-3 launch site at a Romanian air base. If the agreement is ratified by the Romanian parliament, the country will host the first land-based deployment of the SM-3 in 2015. Poland has also agreed to deploy SM-3 missiles in 2018. The completed ALTBMD will provide missile defense for all NATO countries, Tauscher said. The system’s infrastructure can be relocated in about 120 days to respond to shifting threats, O’Reilly said, and a single battery can protect a city the size of Washington.

David Kramer