Correction

An Aug. 15 GSN story, “U.S. Plans I:  Sea-Based Defense Against Boosting Missiles Could Work, Scientist Says,” incorrectly reported where a study estimated the United States would need to deploy its sea-based missile defense systems to intercept enemy missiles launched from U.S. coastal waters.  The American Physical Society estimated that those systems would need to be “within a few tens of kilometers of the launch location of the attacking missile.”

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MDA Ahead of Schedule on Missile Defense Communications

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is ahead of schedule in building the communications support system for the national missile defense system, Space News reported Monday (see GSN, Sept. 24).

Agency officials met Aug. 21 in Los Angeles with executives from Boeing, the lead systems integrator for the U.S. missile defense system, to mark the completion of a 32,000-kilometer fiber-optic network that will connect all command and management aspects of the program.  The fiber-optic project is the largest in the world, according to the agency.

Lockheed Martin is the chief contractor for integrating missile defense information technology.  Officials from both defense contractors are working to have the information system up and running in time for missile defense system’s scheduled 2004 deployment.  The Bush administration hopes to have the first stages of a working missile defense system in Alaska and California by that time.

“We will be ready,” said David Kier, vice president and managing director of missile defense for Lockheed Martin (Randy Barrett, Space News, Sept. 22).

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Japanese Satellites Photographing North Korean WMD Sites

Six months after being launched, Japan’s first two spy satellites are monitoring nuclear activities and missile sites in North Korea, Asahi Shimbun reported today (see GSN, March 28).

The satellites, which were launched in March, are focusing on the Yongbyon nuclear complex and ballistic missile facilities on North Korea’s northeast coast.  The satellites began taking pictures in May, and have also recorded images of WMD sites in Russia, China and the Middle East, according to Asahi Shimbun.

One satellite uses a telescopic optical sensor and the other is equipped to operate at night or in bad weather (Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 25).

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