U.S. and Russia to Talk Next Month
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates expects to see a more pliant Russia when it comes to protecting Europe from missile attacks, according to Voice of America. Speaking at a Senate hearing, Gates said Russia has changed its assessment of Iran and agrees with the U.S. that the rogue nation has advanced far enough to hit targets in Europe.
Gates said this about former President Vladimir Putin: “When I first met with President Putin and talked about this, he basically dismissed the idea that the Iranians would have a missile that would have the range to reach much of Western Europe and much of Russia before 2020 or so. And he showed me a map that his intelligence guys had prepared. And I told him he needed a new intelligence service.”
It’s common knowledge Russia opposes our plans to build missile shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia called the bases threats, unconvinced that their purpose is to protect Central Europe. The former Soviet state is changing its tune, thanks to Iran’s desire and determination to possess nuclear power.
As irony would have it, we now have a president in the White House who is not committed to building the shields.
U.S. defense contractors are very interested in talks between the two countries, as their programs are at stake in the wake of defense budget cuts. Northrop Grumman wants the Department of Defense to lift a stop-work order so it can move forward with a test flight of the Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI).
Northrop spokesman Bob Bishop said, “Taxpayers have invested some $1.1 billion in KEI over the last five-plus years. It would be a shame to spend that money without a test to prove whether the technology works and forego an opportunity to gather valuable data on this first-of-a-kind, high-acceleration agile missile.”
The Obama administration has proposed to cut $1.4 billion from the missile defense budget.
(Source: Voice of America and Reuters)
Tags: Czech Republic, Northrop Grumman, Poland, Robert Gates, Russia, Vladimir Putin