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Brian T. Kennedy, president of the Claremont Institute and member of the Independent Working Group on Missile Defense, wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal about missile defense in Japan.

Kennedy cites what he sees as Japan’s lack of concern about strong missile defense. He quotes politician Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, who said missile defense was “almost totally useless…Only one or two out of 100 are ever effective.”

“Unfortunately,” writes Kennedy, “both the new Japanese and the U.S. administrations appear to share an ideological predisposition against missile defense.”

Kennedy briefly summarizes President Barack Obama’s views on missile defense. The administration has cut funding to missile defense and dropped plans to deploy missile shields to Poland and the Czech Republic. Obama envisions a world of no nuclear weapons, whereas our enemies are more realistic. Kennedy notes that Japan sits between China and the U.S., and China intends to continue building its ballistic missile program. Does it make sense for Japan to move in the opposite direction?

“Today China possesses an arsenal of medium-, intermediate- and intercontinental ballistic missiles that could inflict destruction on the Japanese homeland,” Kennedy writes. “In addition, China possesses nuclear-tipped cruise missiles and is developing advanced stealth bombers to deliver them. Next year the Pentagon expects that Beijing’s JIN-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine fleet to be operational. The missiles on these submarines could strike at Japan from a significant distance anywhere in the international waters of East Asia. Beijing also seeks space-based capabilities.”

At the present rate, China may one day overpower the entire continent, including Russia. Will the U.S. be able to protect Japan, considering that our president is lukewarm on missile defense? While both the U.S. and Japan cut spending, countries like China, North Korea, and Iran are putting resources into defense technology.

“[T]he Japanese must continue to build robust defenses. Otherwise it will not be possible to build a strategic relationship between the two over the longer term in which Japan is not merely the junior partner but a supplicant to Beijing.”

Read the full article here.

(Image source)

 
The U.S. has confirmed that North Korea “probably” conducted an underground nuclear test last month before it launched short-range missiles. After the U.N. Security Council issued a resolution to impose sanctions, North Korea said it would begin enriching uranium for nuclear weapons.

President Barack Obama will order the Navy to inspect North Korean ships that might be carrying weapons. The rogue state has already threatened war if its ships are stopped for inspection.

The New York Times reports that these proposed inspections are “the most confrontational approach taken by the United States in dealing with North Korea in years” and likely would raise tension; however, North Korea is doing that all by itself with defiant nuclear tests and missile launches. The U.S. should focus on stopping North Korea in its tracks and not worry about “escalating tensions.”

The president will spend today with South Korean president Lee Myung-bak to discuss North Korea’s actions. The U.S. will also work with China, Japan, and Russia to keep North Korea in check.

 
The big news this post-Memorial Day weekend is North Korea’s continued defiance in the face of international criticism. On Monday, North Korea reportedly conducted a nuclear test and fired three short-range missiles, which countries like China and Russia condemned. On Tuesday, the rogue state reportedly test-fired two more short-range missiles, and there’s talk of more launches for tomorrow. (Source)

South Korea said it would join the U.S. in intercepting ships from countries like North Korea carrying weapons. The defiant country has already stated it would consider declaring war if its ships were intercepted.

Sanctions against North Korea obliviously are ineffective.

As expected, the U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea’s actions in an emergency meeting on Memorial Day. President Barack Obama said, “By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council, North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community. North Korea’s behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in Northeast Asia. Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea’s isolation.”

There’s no doubt the U.S. has the military might to do something about North Korea, but what, and more importantly, when? Last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the U.S. has 30 ground-based missile interceptors in place to counteract missiles from North Korea. He also said the Obama administration planned to shift funds away from weapons and research for future conflicts and focus on weapons needed for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

>> National Review’s Kathryn Lopez posts on The Corner blog a letter from a group of bipartisan U.S. senators who oppose missile defense cuts. Senators Joe Lieberman, Jon Kyl, Mark Begich, Lisa Murkowski, Jeff Sessions, and Jim Inhofe sent the letter to President Barack Obama. An excerpt:

“We write to urge you not to allow deep cuts in U.S. missile defense programs that are critically important to protecting our homeland and our allies against the growing threat of ballistic missiles.

“Secretary of Defense Robert Gates today announced plans to cancel or reduce such major programs as the Airborne Laser, Multiple Kill Vehicle, and the installation of additional Ground-Based Interceptor missiles in Alaska, and cut the MDA’s budget for Fiscal Year 2010 by $1.4 billion. Although we applaud Secretary Gates’ commitment to such capabilities THAAD and SM-3, these proposals would amount to almost a fifteen percent cut in the MDA budget and a major reduction in our missile defense portfolio—actions that we fear could undermine our emerging missile defense capabilities to protect the United States against a growing threat.

“As you know, the threat from ballistic missiles is significant and on the rise.”

Read the rest at NRO.

>> Today Israel successfully test-fired its Arrow II interceptor missile, a system that will help the country defend against attacks from rogue states like Iran and Syria.

An unnamed source said, “The arrow’s interception altitude has been enhanced. Of course, the higher you go, the further out you can reach as well. Our doctrine is to intercept enemy missiles as far away from Israeli skies as possible. That gives you time for another try if you miss.” (Reuters)

>> According to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted before North Korea’s rocket launch, 57 percent of Americans said they support using military force to neutralize North Korea’s capability to launch missiles. Sixty-six percent of Republicans and 52 percent of Democrats said they support military involvement if North Korea moved forward with its military test. (FOXNews.com)

>> Today the U.S. issued sanctions against six Iranian companies and a Chinese man named Li Fangwei, also known as Karl Lee, for allegedly supporting Iran’s rogue ballistic missile and nuclear programs. U.S. Treasury Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey said, “Today we are acting under our Security Council and other international obligations to prevent these entities from abusing the financial system to pursue centrifuge and missile technology for Iran.” (AFP)

(Photo credit: Boeing)

Heritage Analyst Bruce Klingner talks about how the United Nations should respond to the North Korea Missile Test on MSNBC. Klingner is the Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center.

Watch the video here.

 
Charles V. Peña at Anti-War levels some often heard criticisms at both 33 Minutes and the cause of missile defense. He writes:

“To be fair, the truth is that we are defenseless against ballistic missiles. If a nuclear ballistic missile were launched against the United States, we would have no choice but to wait for it to detonate. But that truth needs to be put in context. First, only two other countries currently possess ballistic missiles with sufficient range and armed with nuclear warheads to reach the United States: Russia and China. But Russia is not the foe that the former Soviet Union was. Although the U.S. and Russia still target each other, the U.S.-Russian relationship is not strictly adversarial, nor are the two countries engaged in direct military competition.”

Then Peña criticizes Heritage’s “33 Minutes” documentary, which he calls “fearmongering.” To bolster his claims, he quotes Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said, “No stupid person, enemy out there would be so silly as to come at us anymore with a minimum-energy trajectory. Come on. Give me a break. There’s just no reason to. I mean, even the people that we would call Third World have gone beyond that.”

With all due respect to Cartwright, Peña, and all the other missile defense skeptics, they want to have it both ways arguing both that the US is defenseless and that there is no threat to worry about.

Neither statement is accurate.

We can defend ourselves. We have built and tested missile defenses that can stop an incoming ballistic. To not deploy or continue to improve them is morally bankrupt.

There are threats out there that need to be taken seriously. Iran and North Korea obviously value ballistic capability. They have invested a good deal of their national treasure in building these weapons. They think they are worth having—particularly if we put up no defense against them. While it is true both North Korea and Iran do not have a robust missile capability for attack the US now—they are working on it. Saying do nothing until they have the capability to kill us is like saying don’t work on a vaccine until the pandemic breaks out. We should build missile defenses now—before North Korea and Iran can hold the US hostage with the threat of nuclear war.

Sources report that North Korea has notified international civilian maritime and aviation authorities that it will launch a satellite between April 4 and 8.

After failing to give notification for previous launches, which the United Nations called dangerous and provocative, North Korea is providing ample warning this time around. North Korea knows the launch violates U.N. resolutions, but hopes issuing a warning will keep negative comments and admonitions to a minimum and provide China and Russia with an incentive to also buck U.N. resolutions.

The satellite’s trajectory will be over Japan and south of Hawaii.

Peter Brookes of the Heritage Foundation has written an article for Townhall magazine titled, “Missile Defense: Now More Than Ever.” (PDF)

Brookes notes that a mere 10 years ago, there were just six nuclear weapons states. Now there are nine. A generation ago, nine countries had ballistic missiles. In 2009, almost 30 countries possess these weapons. The nuclear weapons increases may seem insignificant, but consider that developing and maintaining our own strong missile defense system “remains a controversial idea.” Unbelievable? You better believe it.

The missile defense system development that began under George Bush has yet to be completed. With a new president in the White House who so far has demonstrated lukewarm support for missile defense, the situation is precarious. Powerhouses like Russia and China have weapons, as well as rogue states like Iran and North Korea. The time to act is now.

An excerpt of the article:

“Among present proliferation problems, Iran may be the worst, due to its enmity toward the United States, sponsorship of terrorism, involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and regional power ambitions.

“Tehran insists its burgeoning nuclear program is for peaceful power generation, designed to augment Iran’s significant oil and natural gas reserves. (Iran has the world’s third-largest oil and second-largest natural gas reserves.)

“But an avalanche of evidence tells a different story. Iran is involved in a nuclear weapons program that may become operational this year, according to a growing chorus of experts, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations’ supposed nuclear watchdog.”

The article includes sidebars on the history of missile defense (beginning in the 1940s) and how a ballistic missile defense system works. It’s well worth the read. Download the six-page article (PDF).

 
**U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $6.3 million contract to provide support for the MK 41 Vertical Launching System work on the Ticonderoga Class guided missile cruiser modernization program, as well as Turkey’s MEKO Track IIA and IIB frigates.

Lockheed’s vice president and general manager Dan Schultz said, “The MK 41 is the world’s most reliable below-deck, multi-mission naval missile launching system with a launch success rate of more than 99 percent.” (defense.professionals)

**A Kansas City Star editor says President-elect Barack Obama should move forward on missile defense, and that he has a “tendency to straddle the missile-defense issue.” He notes, as we have, that Russia has threatened to install missiles near Poland if the U.S. moves forward with its plan to build a missile defense shield in the country. Obama’s support for the plan is lukewarm at best and apathetic at worst.

Message for Obama:

“With the Iranians proceeding on their missile technology and nuclear programs, it would be better to have a Central European missile defense capability operational sooner rather than later.” (McClatchy Newspapers)

**Last week we blogged India and the U.S. meeting to discuss India buying missile defense shields from us. Both countries signed a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement last October after more than three decades of sanctions. A senior official in Pakistan, India’s rival, said his country would “have to take counter-measures to respond…For the past many years, we have been considering the possibility of such an outcome one day.”

Journalist Peter J. Brown said China may have problems with India’s missile plans. He writes: “The US seems determined to surround China with US-built anti-missile systems. Using North Korea as a valid excuse at first, the US anti-missile footprint could soon extend from Japan – including Japanese cruisers stationed offshore – and South Korea to Taiwan and India .” (Asia Times)

 
Last January, Israel announced plans for a new missile defense system that would intercept mid- to long-range rockets and missiles used by Hezbollah. Last week, Israel announced that it has created prototypes of the missiles. Jointly developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and U.S. defense contractor Raytheon, the interceptors will be used to defend against Hamas and Hezbollah, two Islamic groups openly hostile to Israel.

In other news, China will unveil new missile defense equipment, which includes the SY 400 rocket-powered guided missile weapon system, at the 7th China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition beginning November 4 in the Zhuhai Airshow Center. China will present such technology as missile armaments, high-tech Olympic products, and emergency rescue equipment.

(Sources: Middle East Newsline and People’s Daily Online)