NATO, Russia clash again on Missile Defense

The current Secretary-General of NATO, Fugh Rasmussen

BRUSSELS—NATO and Russia clashed again Wednesday over the alliance’s plan to build a missile defense system, but NATO’s leader said he is optimistic the two sides can iron out their differences in time for a summit next May.

New US-Russia arms race? Battle lines grow over missile defense.

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (r.) shakes hands with his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov during a meeting at the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels on Wednesday, June 8. Jason Reed/Reuters

By Fred Weir

MOSCOW

Moscow’s previously troubled relations with NATO have improved greatly over the past two years, but the sleeping elephant in the room – the widening gap between Russian and Western visions for a missile defense shield to defend civilization from rogue attacks – may be about to wake up and turn nasty.

Matters could come to a head Thursday, when Defense Secretary Robert Gates meets his Russian counterpart, Anatoly Serdyukov, at the first high level meeting of the Russia-NATO Council since ties cooled following Russia’s brief summer war with Georgia in 2008.

Riki Ellison Radio Interview – KNBR (Wednesday Morning)

Riki Ellison is interviewed by KNBR, on Wednesday morning, discussing his Missile Defense career and the recent entry of his Youth-Impact Program (YIP)in the Bay Area, a collaboration between Stanford and the 49ers.
http://www.knbr.com/portals/3/podcasts/murphmac/0608rikiellison.mp3

Russian Views on European Missile Defense

Nikolai Makarov, Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia

By Richard Weitz

Many of our discussions in Russia last week focused on missile defense issues in preparation for the June 9 meeting of the NATO-Russian Council (NRC) at the level of defense ministers.

NATO-Russian differences over ballistic missile defense (BMD) have persisted even after both parties, at the November 2010 NATO and NRC summits in Lisbon, agreed in principle to cooperate on missile defense. At the summit, NATO governments dutifully pledged “to explore opportunities for missile defence co-operation with Russia in a spirit of reciprocity, maximum transparency and mutual confidence.”

NATO and Russia have committed to resume joint exercises of their theater BMD systems, which were suspended following the August 2008 Georgia War. And their experts are currently engaged in a joint analysis of the modalities of NATO-Russia collaboration for common territorial missile defense. Their analysis will address such questions as a common architecture could look like, how costs and technologies might be shared, how to apply the knowledge gained from the joint exercises to a more permanent joint NATO-Russia BMD system, and how to cooperate in defense of European territory rather than NATO and Russian military forces on deployment. The experts will report their initial findings to the defense ministers on June 9, 2011.

The Space Tracking and Surveillance System Program Office officially moved to the Missile Defense Integration and Operations Center

The Space Tracking and Surveillance System Program Office officially moved from Los Angeles Air Force Base to the Missile Defense Integration and Operations Center, in a ceremony held May 25, 2011, which also highlighted the renaming of the Missile Defense Space Experimentation Center to the Space Development Center.

North Korea test-launched short-range missile last week

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea tested a short-range missile last week in an apparent effort to improve its missile capabilities, a South Korean official said Wednesday amid renewed tension on the Korean peninsula.

Missile Defense Agency delays selection of new prime contractor

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has delayed awarding until November a contract order worth as much as $10 billion in a competition that has pitted Boeing Co. against Lockheed Martin Corp.

GMD Development and Sustainment Contract Evaluation to Continue

The pending Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) development and sustainment contract undergoing proposal evaluation is now planned for award late this fall. Boeing and Lockheed Martin have each submitted proposals to compete for the contract award. The award amount will be proposed by the companies in their respective proposals. The Source Selection Authority has determined that it is in the best interest of the government to ensure rigorous and comprehensive proposals by industry, and evaluation by the government, by extending the anticipated award date into November of this year.

MDA News Release

http://www.mda.mil

Giving Away the Farm

OPINION:

BY R. JAMES WOOLSEY, REBECCAH HEINRICHS

President Barack Obama’s administration recently threatened to veto the defense budget, citing “serious concerns” over provisions that limit the U.S. missile defense know-how that the White House is permitted to share with Moscow. This is the sort of information that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in his earlier days, would have assigned his spies to steal. Through its single-minded pursuit of “resetting” relations with Russia, the Obama administration may simply be willing to hand over this information and, in doing so, weaken U.S. national security.