17 September 2009
Obama Announces New Plan to Defend Europe from Iranian Missiles
Washington — Citing the need for a more adaptable missile defense architecture for Europe that uses “proven and cost-effective” technology, the Obama administration unveiled plans for a phased deployment of sensors and missile interceptors designed to reduce the threat from Iran’s ballistic missile program.
Speaking at the White House September 17, President Obama said the new missile defense program comes with the unanimous recommendations of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Joint Chiefs of Staff after a comprehensive review of the proposed 2007 European missile defense plan which had called for radar and missile interceptors to be deployed in the Czech Republic and Poland, respectively.
Based on updated intelligence assessments of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and advances in U.S. missile defense technology, the new system will not require elements to be housed in either country, and the new approach “will provide capabilities sooner, build on proven systems, and offer greater defenses against the threat of missile attack” than the previous strategy, Obama said.
Updated U.S. intelligence assessments emphasize threats from Iran’s short- and medium-range missiles, such as the Shahab-3, which are capable of reaching Europe, rather than the threat from intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as envisioned under the 2007 plan. In addition, “we have made specific and proven advances in our missile defense technology, particularly with regard to land- and sea-based interceptors and the sensors that support them,” Obama said.
As missile defense technology continues to evolve, the new defense architecture will also retain flexibility to adjust and enhance defenses as needed, he said.
“To put it simply, our new missile defense architecture in Europe will provide stronger, smarter and swifter defenses of American forces and America’s allies. It is more comprehensive than the previous program; it deploys capabilities that are proven and cost-effective; and it sustains and builds upon our commitment to protect the U.S. homeland against long-range ballistic missile threats; and it ensures and enhances the protection of all our NATO allies,” the president said.
Obama said the United States and its allies will continue to pursue “strong diplomacy” in response to Iranian nuclear activities and said there is no substitute for Iran agreeing to comply with its international obligations.
The president added that the missile defense plan in Europe has clearly and consistently been focused on the Iranian threat and that Russian concerns over the previous program had been “entirely unfounded.” Obama welcomed Russian cooperation in the new approach, including bringing “its missile defense capabilities into a broader defense of our common strategic interests.” (See “Obama, Russia’s Medvedev Agree to Further Missile Defense Talks.”)
According to a September 17 White House fact sheet on U.S. missile defense policy, the new defense approach will primarily employ upgraded versions of the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) and a network of sensors in Europe to counter the Iranian threat. The first phase is expected to deploy in 2011, about five or six years earlier than in the 2007 plan, and the four-phased approach would “systematically increase the defended area as the threat is expected to grow,” the fact sheet said, adding “in the 2018 timeframe, all of Europe could be protected by our collective missile defense architecture.”
Currently, SM-3 missile interceptors can be deployed on the U.S. Navy’s Aegis ships and were used successfully on a decaying satellite in a February 2008 test, the fact sheet said. “Additional, planned research and development over the next few years offers the potential for more diverse and more capable sensors” and updated versions of the missile, as envisioned in a time frame that extends to the year 2020.
The proposed interceptor and sensor architecture “does not require a single, large, fixed European radar that was to be located in the Czech Republic” and the use of a different interceptor technology from what was envisioned in 2007 removes the need for “a single field of 10 ground-based interceptors in Poland,” the fact sheet said.
Instead, along with the possibility of using sea-based assets, the new plan also envisions “many potential locations” for land-based elements, “some of which will be re-locatable.” The fact sheet said the United States plans to “deploy elements in northern and southern Europe and will be consulting closely at NATO with allies on the specific deployment options.”
Addressing reporters at the Pentagon September 17, Gates and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James Cartwright said the new, more flexible defense system potentially can be deployed elsewhere in the world to defend against ballistic missile threats.
For example, Gates said, the United States is working with Israel to enhance its missile defense capabilities principally against the threat from Iran, partly in hopes “that it will reassure them that perhaps there’s a little more time” for a diplomatic response to the Iranian program.
The United States believes “there is still time for diplomacy and, I might say, sanctions to persuade the Iranians that their security will be diminished by going down the track of nuclear weapons, rather than enhanced,” Gates said.
Cartwright added that if the new system emerges as hoped, “what you really are doing here is providing another form of … credible deterrence that is an alternative to an offensive-only capability.”
That strategy registers beyond the Middle East, Cartwright said. “It has registered in the Pacific, as you’ve seen by the investments of the South Koreans and the Japanese in response to North Korea.”
A fact sheet on the new missile defense policy is available on America.gov.
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