U.S. Navy Shipbuilding Given Budget Priority

The general state of the U.S. Navy's shipbuilding programs is good, two senior service officials claimed, and construction programs apparently will not be slashed to meet an expected Pentagon-wide $263 billion reduction in spending.

THE U.S. NAVY'S top acquisition official said Jan. 12 that shipbuilding remains a “priority.” The new littoral combat ship Coronado (LCS 4) is shown Jan. 9 just before being launched. (U.S. Navy photo via Austal USA)

"We've placed a priority on shipbuilding," Sean Stackley, the Navy's top acquisition official, told reporters Jan. 12. "You can see a lot of alignment between the defense strategy and what the Navy does."

The Obama administration's fiscal 2013 budget request, scheduled to be sent Feb. 6 to Congress, will show "various impacts," Stackley said, "but we've been careful to hold to the core capabilities we need in our shipbuilding program. It's not just platforms, it's the capability we need in terms of weapon systems to be able to meet the defense strategy."

Speaking at the Surface Navy Association's symposium in Washington, Stackley commented on the progress of the Air Missile Defense Radar (AMDR), a program to develop a primary sensor to go with the Aegis weapon system. Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are competing under-development contracts for the radar, which will be installed on Arleigh Burke-class destroyers beginning with those bought in 2016.

A downselect on the AMDR is expected to take place later this year.

"The AMDR program is going great. And I'm not blowing smoke," Stackley adamantly declared.

"I spent a very concerted couple-week period this past fall, because I've got to see for myself. So I went up to Raytheon, I went to Lockheed Martin, I went to Northrop Grumman.

"I spent a day at each going through not just the data, but looking at the hardware, sitting down and talking with the engineers individually. Getting as much information as I could to corroborate what I'm seeing inside the Navy.

"That program is going very well."

He noted that the AMDR effort is building on existing technology.

"The maturity of the technology is far beyond where folks in the building believed it could be. And the costs that we are seeing are much better than we had estimated just a couple of years ago," he said.

"And the performance - we're at the upper end of the estimated performance range. I'm bullish on AMDR."

With the AMDR installed, the new destroyers will become Flight III of the Arleigh Burke class, supplanting current Flight IIA ships.

Stackley reminded a lunch audience that the Navy would seek a multiyear procurement (MYP) in the new budget for destroyers from 2013 through 2017. Congressional MYP authorization, however, is normally based on design maturity and consistency.

Navy Undersecretary Bob Work, speaking with reporters at the symposium, explained that, for a brief time, the service plans to order both Flight IIAs and IIIs.

"There's an overlap date between the IIAs and the Flight IIIs," he said, with another block buy planned separately for the AMDR ships.

Details will arrive on Jan. 26, when DoD officials preview the 2013 budget request.

7 CRUISERS TO BE CUT?

Earlier, Work, speaking to a symposium audience, laid out the capabilities of the fleet being built through 2022 - and might have inadvertently let slip one of the secret numbers about future ship cuts.

"We're going to wind up with 72 Burkes, and 15 - uh excuse me, I'm not going to tell you any numbers. Rewind the tape," he said, to sympathetic laughter from the professional audience.

The Burke number would reflect the total number of Flight I, II and IIA ships, but the Navy currently operates 22 Ticonderoga-class Aegis cruisers. Speculation has been rampant that some of the cruisers, which range in age from 25 years old to 17, might be decommissioned in line with budget reductions. No officials have commented for the record, but most guesses range between six and nine ships.

Work may have let slip that seven Ticos will be put down early.

But he also exuberantly extolled the virtues of the forces the Navy will have in the future.

"Everyone focuses in on: it's going to be 313 ships, 310," he said. "What the hell do we care? I have BAMS," the Broad-Area Maritime Surveillance aircraft based on the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft.

"Those numbers don't care," Work said. "How many ships would it take to provide the same maritime domain awareness as those BAMS? It's a lot bigger than a [Reagan-era] 600-ship Navy, I guarantee you that."

With the new fleet, "we span the globe. We can concentrate because we can get there in a hurry on 35 knots on the JHSV [Joint High Speed Vessel], 40-plus knots on the LCS [Littoral Combat Ship]. Yeah, it burns a lot of fuel," he said, referring to the LCS. "Yeah, we have refuelers. We get there quickly. We can configure for what we need. We have enormous payload capacity in our big boys.

"This is a different fleet. This is a more powerful fleet. I will take this fleet over a 600-ship Navy … in a heartbeat," Work said, his voice booming.

"One thing I would regret, quite frankly, is I would rather have 100 SSNs [nuclear-propelled attack submarines]. But in almost every other case, I'll take this," he said."

"And if you aren't excited" about the new fleet, he concluded, "you don't have a pulse."

Military Sealift Command Reorganizes Operations

The Military Sealift Command (MSC) announced Jan. 9 a reorganization of its operating forces in a move to increase efficiency.

THE SUBMARINE TENDERS Emory S. Land (AS 39) and Frank Cable (AS 40), seen together last month in Guam, are now part of MSC's Service Support program. MSC also oversees harbor tugboat operations (MC2 Elizabeth Fray / U.S. Navy)

"We are proactively streamlining," Rear Adm. Mark Buzby, MSC's commander, said in a statement.

MSC operates virtually all the U.S. Navy's support and auxiliary ships, crewing them with civilian mariners working for the government or civilian contract crews. The 110 ships operated by the command provide fleet services, take on special missions and carry and store military equipment.

Under the reorganization, the ships will operate under five mission programs, including a new Service Support program. Continuing in operation are the Combat Logistics Force (CLF), Special Mission, Prepositioning and Sealift programs.

The former Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force (NFAF) is no more, its ships operating now under the CLF or Service Support programs.

Also, MSC's 12 worldwide Ship Support Units, which previously reported to the Military Sealift Fleet Support Command in Norfolk, Va., now report to MSC's operational area commands: MSC Atlantic in Norfolk; MSC Pacific in San Diego; MSC Europe and Africa in Naples, Italy; MSC Central in Bahrain; and MSC Far East in Singapore.

Three of MSC's six civilian Senior Executive Service (SES) officials are being "repositioned," according to a press release. One SES will oversee MSC's government-operated ships, another will be in charge of contract-operated ships, and another will oversee total force manpower management.

The new Service Support program includes 14 government-operated ships, including the submarine tenders Emory S. Land and Frank Cable, command ship Mount Whitney and the cable laying ship Zeus, all formerly operated by the Special Mission program. Ten more ships previously operated by the NFAF operate now under the Service Support program, including the hospital ships Mercy and Comfort - designated T-AH - T-ATF fleet ocean tugs and T-ARS rescue and salvage ships.

The Combat Logistics Force, previously a subset of the NFAF, comprises 32 government-operated fleet underway replenishment ships, including T-AKE dry cargo/ammunition ships, T-AOE fast combat support ships, T-AO fleet replenishment oilers and T-AE ammunition ships.

The Special Mission program maintains 24 contract-operated ships, including 8 chartered submarine- and special warfare-support ships; 6 T-AGS oceanographic survey ships; 5 T-AGOS ocean surveillance ships; 2 T-AGM missile range instrumentation ships; the navigation test support ship Waters; and the SBX-1 Sea-based X-Band Radar platform with its towing vessel Dove. The program also manages harbor tug contracts on behalf of the Navy's Installations Command.

The prepositioning program maintains 31 large ships positioned worldwide to store military equipment for the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps and Navy, and the Defense Logistics Agency. Prepositioning ships are a mix of government-owned and chartered ships. The program also includes the high-speed vessels Swift and WestPac Express, the Marine aviation support ships Curtiss and Wright, and the offshore petroleum distribution system ship Vice Adm. K. R. Wheeler.

The 16 ships of the Sealift program are also a mix of government-owned and long-term charter vessels, including large roll on/roll off ships, dry cargo ships, and tankers. The Ready Reserve Force, a group of 48 support ships maintained in various states of readiness, is also part of the Sealift program

India OKs $1.18B Deal To Buy Mica Missiles

NEW DELHI - Five months after signing a $2.2 billion deal to upgrade its French Mirage aircraft, the Indian government Jan. 4 cleared an additional $1.18 billion deal to procure Mica air-to-air missiles from France.

The Indian Air Force will buy 500 Mica missiles from MBDA to mount on the 51 Mirage 200H aircraft that are to be upgraded by France's Thales and Dassault jointly with Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics.

The Mica deal was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security, the nation's top government security agency and which is chaired by the prime minister.

Under the deal, MBDA will also have to execute compulsory defense offsets valued at about 30 percent of the total deal.

The Indian Air Force is upgrading 51 Mirage 2000H aircraft over the next 10 years. Two aircraft have already flown to France for the upgrade and will be delivered by July 2014.

The upgrade includes improved avionics, sensors, weapon capabilities and electronic warfare suite, in addition to a high-performance, multimode airborne radar with longer detection ranges.

The aircraft will be fitted with a new-generation digital electronic warfare suite and a glass cockpit with most of the flight and mission parameters projected on the head-up display.

Mideast Weapon Sales Part of Long-Term Plan: U.S.

The final days of 2011 saw the Obama administration finalize two important weapon sales with countries in the Middle East: a $3.48 billion sale of a Lockheed Martin-made missile defense system to the United Arab Emirates, and a $29.4 billion sale of Boeing-made F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.

While the announcements come as tensions between the United States and Iran continue to rise over a dispute regarding access to the Strait of Hormuz, the deals themselves are not meant to address current events, State Department officials said.

The F-15 deal was finalized with Saudi Arabia on Dec. 24. However, the White House first notified Congress of that sale, which includes 84 new aircraft and the modernization of 70 existing aircraft as well as missiles, spare parts, training, maintenance and logistics, in October 2010.

During a Dec. 30 State Department news conference, Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, told reporters that the deal was not directed toward Iran, adding that work on the sale precedes the latest news out of the region.

"We did not gin up a package based on current events in the region," he said.

Over the last several weeks, the United States and Iran have stepped up the economic and military pressure on each other, with the latest threat coming from Iran, which warned the United States not to return one of its aircraft carriers to the gulf.

On Jan. 3, the Pentagon dismissed Iran's warnings.

"The deployment of U.S. military assets in the Persian Gulf region will continue as it has for decades," Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a statement. "Our transits of the Strait of Hormuz continue to be in compliance with international law, which guarantees our vessels the right of transit passage."

Meanwhile, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman is on a four-day trip to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

"While in the gulf region, she will consult with senior Saudi and Emirati officials on a wide range of bilateral and regional issues," according to the State Department. Her trip "further illustrates the robust strategic relationship the United States shares with both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates."

While the latest sales to the Middle East are being placed in this geopolitical context, the late December announcements are not tied to the escalating tensions, but part of a longer-term security plan, said Danny Sebright, president of the U.S.-UAE Business Council and a counselor at the Cohen Group, Washington.

"The overall sales with regard to both countries are definitely the result of a long-term concern with Iranian intentions, a long-term concern with wanting to improve individual countries' defense capabilities," Sebright said. "But, is the announcement of these two deals specifically tied to Iran? I would say no to that. I would say it's much more about internal decision-making in both countries - some with regard to terms and conditions of the sale, some with regard to budgeting, and some with regard to the Arab Spring."

According to Sebright, the United States gave the formal Letter of Offer and Acceptance to Saudi Arabia last spring and the Saudi government has been holding on to it until it was ready to sign.

"The basic deal had all but been done over a year ago, but they waited for internal and external reasons," he said.

A State Department official said, "While we decline to get into the specifics on the negotiations, the timeline here is not particularly atypical. A sale of this magnitude and complexity required close, continual consultations with our Saudi and industry partners to sort out the details."

Congress was first notified of the plan to sell UAE the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System (THAAD) in September 2008. After negotiating the details of the contract, the United States and UAE signed the THAAD deal on Dec. 25. Lockheed Martin is on contract for four THAAD batteries for the U.S. Army, but the UAE deal is the program's first foreign sale.

Lockheed Martin's portion of the $3.48 billion sale is $1.96 billion. The overall deal includes two THAAD batteries, 96 missiles, two AN/TPY-2 radars, and 30 years of spare parts, support, and training to the UAE, according to the Pentagon.

Since the 2008 congressional notification, UAE trimmed the buy.

At first it was expected the country would buy three THAAD fire units, 147 missiles, and four radar sets for an estimated value of $6.95 billion.

The United Arab Emirates has asked Lockheed not to publicly discuss the delivery schedule of the weapon system, said Dennis Cavin, vice president of corporate business development at Lockheed Martin.

"This sale is an important step in improving the region's security through a regional missile defense architecture, and follows a number of recent ballistic missile defense-related sales," Little said in a Dec. 30 statement.

Sales from earlier in the year include a $1.7 billion direct commercial sales contract to upgrade Saudi Arabia's Patriot missiles and the sale of 209 Patriot GEM-T missiles to Kuwait, valued at about $900 million.

Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, also put the sale in the context of December's announcement that Iraq would buy Lockheed's F-16s and Oman's decision to double the size of its F-16 fleet.

"When combined with the modernization of the Saudi Air Force and the extensive F-16 inventory of the United Arab Emirates, it is clear Arab gulf states will be positioned to greatly outmatch the antiquated tactical aircraft fleet of Iran," he wrote in a blog for Forbes.

According to Lockheed Martin, demand for missile defense capabilities continues to climb around the world.

"With regional threats in the Middle East and the uncertainties of what's going on in North Korea, demand for a very capable missile defense system has never been stronger," Cavin said. "The U.S. government is in discussion with a number of countries who have expressed interest in the THAAD, but we'd prefer that the Missile Defense Agency address any specifics with regard to which countries have contacted them."

The Missile Defense Agency declined to provide further details.

In announcing the Saudi deal, the State Department emphasized it would improve interoperability between the Saudi and American air forces.

In addition to greater cooperation with the United States, the sales also bolster internal cooperation among the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, which include Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Sebright said.

The gulf countries have taken more steps to improve internal coordination and work toward multilateral defense policies in the last year than they have over the last 25, he said.

Bids Submitted for Aegis Follow-On System

Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Boeing have submitted proposals to take over support and development of the Aegis combat system, the companies said Dec. 14.

The Combat System Engineering Agent (CSEA) competition also is intended to provide a follow-on system to Aegis, the U.S. Navy's most capable weapon system and the foundation for its fleet air defense, surface warfare and ballistic missile defense (BMD) missions.

Lockheed has held the Aegis development and support contract since 1995, when it acquired Martin Marietta. The system was first developed by RCA starting in the late 1960s. General Electric then bought the company, which in turn was sold to Martin Marietta and subsequently merged with Lockheed.

Aegis, perhaps the world's most effective naval combat system, has been worth many billions of dollars to Lockheed over the years. All 27 Ticonderoga-class cruisers and at least 70 DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers have been built with the system. Spain, Norway, Japan and the Republic of Korea operate Aegis warships, and Australia is building a new class of Aegis destroyers.

A combination of radars, computers and weapons, Aegis was first developed to counter massed attacks by Soviet anti-ship missiles, and has evolved into an effective surface warfare system. Although not designed to target ballistic missiles, the system has been modified with more powerful processors as the basis for the Navy's BMD systems, and is the foundation for the Phased Adaptive Approach effort for the land-based missile defense of Europe.

According to the Missile Defense Agency, 24 Aegis ships - five cruisers and 19 destroyers - have BMD capability. That number is to increase to 32 ships by the end of 2013 as more units are upgraded.

The CSEA effort is intended to provide for the design, development and integration of Aegis weapon system and Aegis combat system future capabilities for existing cruisers and destroyers, and potentially create a new system for DDG 51 Flight III ships beginning in 2016.

Dependent on development, Flight III ships may be fitted with a new combat system or continue with Aegis.

The Navy is expected to award the CSEA contract in the fall of 2012.

A separate competition is underway to develop a new phased-array radar for Aegis. The Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) is to provide new radars to replace existing SPY-1 radars beginning with the U.S. Navy's 2016 Flight III destroyers.

Lockheed, Raytheon and Northrop are working to develop the AMDR, which will be a dual-band system. All three companies are working under Navy contracts to develop an S-band (AMDR-S) radar, with development contracts yet to be issued for the AMDR-X X-band system. The AMDR systems will also include a radar suite controller to integrate the radars.

Japan Launches Spy Satellite

TOKYO - Japan launched a new spy satellite into orbit Dec. 12 amid concerns over North Korea's missile program and to monitor natural disasters in the region, officials said.

The Japanese H-2A rocket carrying an information-gathering radar satellite lifted off at 10:21 a.m. local time from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan.

"The rocket was launched successfully," said Toshiyuki Miura, a spokesman for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which built the satellite and worked on the launch with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

"The satellite was separated into orbit around the Earth later," Miura added.

The government decided to build an intelligence-gathering system after North Korea launched a missile in 1998 that flew over the Japanese archipelago and into the Pacific, shocking many in Japan.

In defiance of international pressure, North Korea launched what was believed to be a three-stage Taepodong-2 missile in April 2009, with an estimated range of 6,700 kilometers (4,100 miles).

Japan has three operating optical satellites. Two radar ones were successfully placed into orbit, but both broke down later. Another optical satellite was launched in September but is not yet functioning.

Demand for land surveillance grew, meanwhile, after Japan's March 11 quake and tsunami, which killed some 20,000 people and crippled cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, northeast of Tokyo, causing reactor meltdowns.

"The project is aimed at boosting security and monitoring land in case of sizable natural disasters like the one in March," a government official said, adding that the current three satellites were used to track the March calamity.

"If everything goes smoothly, it will be the first radar satellite under the program," the official said. "With the radar satellite, we can introduce wider usage of the system."

Radar satellites are able to capture images at night and in cloudy weather, something that optical satellites cannot.

The latest satellite cost some 39.8 billion yen ($512 million) to develop, while the launch cost about 10.3 billion yen, Kyodo News reported.

JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy had originally planned to launch the satellite Dec. 11, but it was postponed due to bad weather.

US plays down new Pak air-defence system

WASHINGTON: US Department of Defence has said that the new air-defene system installed by Pakistan was of no consequence for America as it posed no danger to their forces deployed in Afghanistan, Geo News reported. A briefing by Pentagon also stressed that to avoid another Mohmand attack better coordination was the way to go not an air-defence system, adding such tactical decisions were Pakistan’s internal affairs. The briefing added that warmer Pakistan-US ties were in the broader interest of both strategic partners in war on terror. Pentagon officials also adamantly maintained that Nato’s attack in Mohmand was involuntary.

Pakistan Warns of 'Detrimental Response' to Attacks

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani warned Dec. 9 the U.S. and its NATO allies that any future cross-border attack would meet with a "detrimental response".

U.S.-Pakistani relations plunged to a new low last month after a cross-border NATO air strike which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Gilani made the comments while meeting army chief of staff Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the prime minister's secretariat said in a statement.

"The democratic government would not allow similar attack on the country's sovereignty and any attempt in future will definitely meet the detrimental response," the statement quoted Gilani as saying.

Pakistani security officials earlier said they had upgraded the air defense system on the Afghan border to make it capable of shooting down aircraft.

Kayani informed the prime minister of the steps taken on the western boarders to revamp defense capabilities aimed at effectively countering any future incursion into Pakistani territory.

"The government and the people of Pakistan were ready to provide the armed forces all the necessary resources to bolster its defense and professional capabilities," Gilani said.

Pakistan shut its border to NATO supply convoys on Nov. 26, hours after the deadliest single cross-border attack of the 10-year war in Afghanistan.

The government also ordered the United States to leave the Shamsi air base in the southwest, widely reported to be a hub in the covert CIA drone war against the Taliban and al-Qaida in Pakistan's border area with Afghanistan.

The Nov. 26 attack brought the fragile Pakistani-U.S. alliance to a fresh low, already reeling from a covert American raid that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden near the Pakistani capital on May 2.

Russia Delivers Missiles to Syria: Report

MOSCOW - Russia has delivered supersonic cruise missiles to Syria despite the violence shaking the Arab country and Israel's furious condemnation of the deal, a news report said on Dec. 1.

"The Yakhont supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles have been delivered to Syria," a military source told the Interfax news agency without disclosing when the shipment was made.

Russia signed a contract reportedly worth at least $300 million (222 million euros) in 2007 to supply its traditional Arab world ally with a large shipment of the cruise missiles.

Reports said Russia intended to deliver 72 of the missiles to Syria in all.

The deal immediately angered Israel, which fears the weapons may fall into the hands of Hezbollah militants in neighboring Lebanon.

Russia has since also come under growing pressure from Washington, which wants all military sales to President Bashar al-Assad's regime halted because of his deadly crackdown on Syrian street protests.

But Moscow has defended Assad against global pressure and this week argued that its arms sales were permitted under international law and would continue.

Another Russian official told Interfax that the missiles, which operate as part of the Bastion mobile coastal defense system, "will be able to protect Syria's entire coast against a possible attack from the sea."

Each Bastion system is equipped with 36 cruise missiles as well as truck-mounted radar and other equipment.

It was not immediately clear how many of the missiles Russia has delivered to Syria so far.

Germany Lends Air-Defense Radar to Israel

TEL AVIV - Germany recently delivered a Patriot air defense radar to Israel as a cost-free loaner pending conclusion of a three- to four-year refurbishment in the United States of Israel's own AN/MPQ-53 radars for its PAC-2 force.

German, U.S. and Israeli sources confirmed the trilateral cooperation, aimed at filling potential gaps in Israeli air defense coverage while Israel Air Force radars are being serviced at Fort Sill, Okla.

The loaner radar provided by the German Bundeswehr arrived here in mid-October, shortly before the first of three Israeli Patriot radar sets was shipped to the United States for servicing. The German delivery marks an expansion of strategic cooperation with Israel, which received two full-up Patriot PAC-2 batteries from Luftwaffe stocks in 2003 in the run-up to the U.S.-led coalition war in Iraq.

Sources said it will take about a year to replace aging components of each radar, extend service life, and improve its ability to interoperate with U.S. European Command's Patriot batteries that participate in biannual U.S.-Israel exercises and could be rushed here for emergency deployment during wartime.

The refurbishment program is estimated at $15 million and will be funded through annual U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF) assistance to Israel. Israeli and German officials confirmed that the German loaner radar would remain here until the upgrade program is complete and all Israeli radars are redeployed and integrated with other elements of the Air Force's Air Defense Force.

"Germany has contributed to the air defense system of Israel since 2003 with the loan of two Patriot systems. Additional components are temporarily on loan to maintain the operational capability of the systems," said Lt. Col. Holger Neumann, a German MoD spokesman.

An Israel Air Force officer emphasized that the recently launched Patriot radar upgrade is more logistical in nature and is not aimed at converting Israel's PAC-2 air defense force to the PAC-3 ballistic missile intercepting configuration.

Israel has no plans to procure PAC-3 missile interceptors from Lockheed Martin, he said. Instead, the Air Defense Force is looking to deploy the David's Sling air and missile defense system now in development by Rafael and Raytheon.

Nevertheless, the Air Force officer said Israel "is looking very closely" at a so-called Config-3 program that would render its existing PAC-2 force more capable of operating with PAC-3 intercepting batteries.

No decision has been made on the estimated $60 million Config-3 program with Raytheon, producers of the Patriot radar, engagement control stations, launching units, and improved PAC-2 interceptor missiles.

Russia Activates Missile Warning System Near EU

MOSCOW – Russia on Nov. 29 activated a radar warning system against incoming missiles in its exclave of Kaliningrad on the borders of the EU, in response to Western plans for a U.S. missile shield in Europe.

President Dmitry Medvedev announced that the Voronezh-DM station was moving on to immediate combat readiness, days after threatening to deploy missiles in Kaliningrad amid a growing dispute with the West.

Using rhetoric reminiscent of the Cold War, he added: "If this signal is not heard, we will deploy other methods of protection including the taking of tough countermeasures and the deployment of strike forces.""I expect that this step will be seen by our partners as the first signal of the readiness of our country to make an adequate response to the threats which the (Western) missile shield poses for our strategic nuclear forces," Medvedev said.

Medvedev said last week Russia was prepared to deploy Iskander missiles, which officials say have a range of up to 500 kilometres (310 miles), in the Kaliningrad exclave that borders EU members Poland and Lithuania.

Romania and Poland have agreed to host part of a revamped U.S. missile shield which Washington said is aimed solely at "rogue" states like Iran but Moscow believes would also target its own capability.

NATO member Turkey has decided to host an early warning radar at a military facility near Malatya in the southeast as part of the missile defence system.

Medvedev, who visited Kaliningrad to sign the decree on activating the station, said Russia needed to hear more than promises from the West to resolve the standoff.

"Verbal statements do not guarantee our interests. If other steps are made then of course we are ready to listen," Medvedev added in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies from Kaliningrad.

"We can no longer be content with verbal promises that the (U.S. missile shield) system is not aimed against Russia. These are empty statements and do not guarantee our security."

But he said that the activation of the Kaliningrad station "does not close the door for dialogue" with the United States on missile defense.

Kaliningrad is part of the former German East Prussia region that was annexed by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II and remains one of Moscow's prime territorial strategic assets.

The RIA Novosti news agency quoted Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov as saying that the station could keep track of 500 objects at a range of up to 6,000 kilometers.

The move comes in the run-up to legislative elections on Dec. 4, where Medvedev is leading the list of the ruling United Russia party amid an atmosphere of growing nationalism in Russia.

Medvedev has championed a reset of relations with the United States under President Barack Obama. But Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who traditionally has a more prickly relationship with the West, is set to become president in 2012.

An analyst said the decision to activate the system was important but had to be seen in a domestic context.

"Data from this station will allow Russia's leadership to make a decision about a retaliatory nuclear strike, should such a hypothetical need arise," said Mikhail Khodaryonok, editor of journal "Aerospace Defence."

But he described the announcement as mainly "pre-election rhetoric" given that both the U.S. missile shield and the Russian system are defensive in nature.

"You would really need to have a vivid imagination to link it to the U.S. missile defense system."