Israel:  United States Pulling Patriots Out

The United States is withdrawing Patriot missile defense batteries from Israel, the Washington Times reported today (see GSN, March 4).  U.S. defense officials yesterday said Iraqi missiles no longer pose a threat to Israel, according to the Times (Washington Times, April 15).

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U.S. Plans:  Missile Tracking Satellites Set for Launch in Three Years

Northrop Grumman is prepared to meet a Defense Department goal of 2007 for launch of two prototype missile detection and tracking satellites, a component in the planned U.S. national missile defense system, Defense Week reported today (see GSN, Dec. 2, 2002).

The first two prototype satellites, to be equipped with infrared and visible sensors, are to be launched in 2006 and 2007, Northrop Grumman vice president for missile defense Patrick Caruana said.

“Both the acquisition and track sensors exist,” along with related equipment and the satellite itself, Caruana said, citing a low risk in integrating the systems.

The Space Tracking and Surveillance System satellites were previously known as the Space-Based Infrared System Low.

Once in low orbit, the satellites will be integrated into the U.S. missile test bed, set to be activated next year to provide an initial missile defense capability, according to Defense Week (see GSN, April 11).  The satellites will “validate space-based sensor concepts for target acquisition, tracking, and discrimination and to provide a space node for the test bed,” U.S. Missile Defense Agency Director Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish told the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee this month (Ann Roosevelt, Defense Week, April 14).

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U.S. Plans:  Alaska Test Bed to Undergo First Test in 2005, MDA Director Says

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is planning to conduct the first interception test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system currently under construction in Alaska by the first quarter of 2005, agency Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish said Wednesday (see GSN, March 21).

Once that test is completed, the agency plans to conduct up to three intercept tests per year at the Alaska test bed, along with “many more” ground tests, he told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.  Kadish also said there are plans to attempt to intercept a long-range ballistic missile and a medium range missile simultaneously.

The agency is also set to conduct flight tests later this year to evaluate candidates for the GMD’s new booster rocket, said Thomas Christie, director of the Defense Department’s operational test and evaluation division.  Each of the prospective boosters will undergo two flight tests, with the new booster expected to be used in the intercept tests, Christie said.

Over the past two years, the agency has conducted 55 flight tests and 60 ground tests in the GMD program, Kadish said, adding that 17 of those were intercept tests.  Almost 70 flight tests and 58 ground tests are planned for the next two years, he said.

In addition to GMD testing, the Pentagon plans to conduct at least three more intercept tests for the U.S. sea-based missile defense system by the end of fiscal 2004, Christie told the committee.

“Current plans call for three more intercept flights for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System prior to the end of fiscal year 2004,” Christie said.  “Additional flight testing beyond this point is still in the planning stage,” he said.

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European Plans:  Italian, Russian Experts Discuss European ABM System

Italian and Russian defense experts completed a two-week series of consultations yesterday on the creation of a European missile defense system (see GSN, April 1).  The meetings, held within the framework of the NATO-Russia council, demonstrated that the Italian military understood the importance of a common European missile defense system, said Col. Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, first deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (ITAR-Tass/BBC Monitoring, April 11).

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United States:  Mid-Level Patriots Used Most Often for Iraqi Missile Intercepts

By David McGlinchey
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — U.S. missile defenses have been used against nine short-range Iraqi ballistic missiles in the current conflict, and only four of those attempted intercepts have involved the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 system, defense officials said yesterday (see GSN, April 4).

Defense officials have been quick to publicize the success of the Patriots, but reports varied widely on the number of missiles Baghdad had fired.

The Iraqi ballistic missiles “didn’t hit their targets, for one reason or another.  There are some shots that we let go because they were not threatening a particular defended area.  But overall, the performance is very encouraging from the standpoint that we seem to have engaged the targets successfully,” said Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish during testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

Some missile defense critics have said that success rates are misleading because the Patriots are targeting slower Iraqi missiles, not the larger Scuds (see GSN, March 25).

Kadish said U.S. forces are working with a “combination” of new Patriot 3 missiles and improved versions of the older Patriot 2 missiles.  The Army does not have enough PAC-3s to use them in every intercept, according to Kadish.

“We fired four PAC-3s, but most of the engagements have been done by improved versions of Patriot 2s,” he said.

Kadish said the United States had provided Kuwait with “a national missile defense,” but he also warned senators to wait for more substantial information on the Patriots’ performance.

“It would probably be better to wait until the end of the war and some more information coming in to make definitive statements about it,” he said.

Despite the Patriot’s success, defense officials have not yet explained what went wrong when Patriot systems downed one British and one U.S. military aircraft during the conflict.

The incidents are still under investigation but the targeted aircraft themselves might be at fault, according to Thomas Christie, the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation.

“We don’t know at this time whether we can blame that on Patriot or blame them on other problems with the aircraft that were, in fact, engaged,” Christie said at the hearing.

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Israel:  Country Discharges Reservists Called to Run Missile Defenses

The Israeli military today discharged thousands of reserve soldiers who had been called up to help operate the country’s missile defense systems because of concerns of a possible Iraqi attack, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, March 20).  Out of about 12,000 reserve troops called up, only about 1,000 remain in active units, according to Israeli media reports.

The Defense Ministry’s missile alert status will probably be reduced in the next few days as well, said government spokesman Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad (see GSN, April 2).  “It’s obvious, if not today, then tomorrow, or the next day,” he said (Yoav Appel, Associated Press/Newsday, April 10).

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