Building the Shield

Efforts to establish a NATO-led European missile shield have ricocheted off national political challenges, regional rivalries and commercial interests, with a scheduled June meeting of allied and Russian defense ministers pivotal to charting the way forward.
Russian officials have directly linked participation in European missile defense to the U.S.-Russian New START, which took force Feb. 5. Two days after the strategic arms treaty went into effect, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told journalists that Russia would consider withdrawing from the New START if Washington aggressively pushed for the missile shield.
"If the U.S. bolsters the qualitative and quantitative potential of its missile defense, a question will arise whether Russia should further stick to the treaty or would be forced to take measures to respond to the situation, including military and technical measures," the diplomat said at a Feb. 7 news conference.
At the NATO-Russia November summit in Lisbon, Moscow and the alliance agreed to jointly develop a European missile defense. However, Russian officials lately have expressed concerns that two separate missile defense systems will be built in Europe: one by the U.S. and NATO without Russian participation, and the second by NATO together with Russia.
On Feb. 11, President Dmitry Medvedev appointed Russia's special envoy to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, to the newly created post of special presidential representative on anti-missile defense and ordered creation of an interagency task force to cooperate with NATO. The group is expected to begin its work by March 31 and will be responsible for coordinating the negotiating process with NATO.
"This issue will really become either critically important for mutual understanding and further rapprochement between Russia and the West in military policies, or it will throw back our relations for several years and maybe even decades," Rogozin said in Brussels on March 1, the official RIA Novosti agency reported.
Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov said at the Feb. 7 news conference that missile defense is "a kind of litmus test that will allow us to see whether NATO members and the United States are ready for open, equal, honest and parity-based cooperation."
NATO and Russian defense ministers are to convene in June to discuss the results of a missile threat assessment by the group of experts who are also to report about the feasibility of building a joint missile defense system.
The initial assessment cites missile threats to Europe from the south, Rogozin said, but he questions why some plans are oriented toward northern Europe.
"Buildup of the strategic anti-missile defense in Northern Europe, where not a single expert identified a possible threat, is an unpleasant signal for us," he said, apparently referring to the U.S. plans to install elements of the missile defense system in Poland. Poland Poland has been at the center of European missile defense efforts and conflicts. Under plans proposed by U.S. President George W. Bush, Poland would have hosted interceptors. President Barack Obama scrapped that plan for an Aegis-ship based system, but still would install interceptors in Poland, as announced during the March 3 visit to Washington of Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski.
Meanwhile, Poland also is pursuing a national missile defense effort that could include a combination of Patriots from Germany and development of a new system, although some question whether these efforts conflict.
Polish Defense Minister Bogdan Klich and Germany's former defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, discussed a possible sale of up to 12 Patriot missile batteries during Guttenberg's Feb. 15 visit to Warsaw. "We are in the middle of talks on acquiring a number of Patriot missile batteries from Germany," Klich said at a press briefing after that meeting.
"We are linked by common proposals, goals and priorities," Guttenberg said at the briefing. "Poland is our partner. During the next few weeks, we will be holding talks on this issue."
Meanwhile, according to earlier reports by the local media, the Polish Ministry of Defense planned to launch a tender for an air defense system by the end of this year. The deal was reported to be worth about $5 billion.
In early 2010, five bidders responded to a request for technical specifications. These included proposals submitted by Raytheon and Norway's Kongsberg; MBDA and Poland's Bumar Group; Raytheon and Israel's Rafael; Germany's Diehl BGT Defense; and Israel Aerospace Industries. "We have designed a project of an air defense system, dubbed the Shield for Poland," said Edward Nowak, chief executive of Bumar Group. "It currently is our most significant project."
According to Nowak, the joint pitch of the local defense industry and MBDA has been wrongly seen as directly competing with plans to deploy elements of a U.S. missile shield on Polish soil, and the two projects would complement each other.
State-owned Bumar, which is Poland's largest defense group, said it hopes that joining forces with European manufacturer MBDA, which is offering the Aster 30 and VL Mica missiles, will improve its chances of securing the multibillion-dollar contract.
"The lack of developed missile products has been the biggest shortcoming of Poland's defense industry. While we have the necessary know-how and technology in radio location and C4ISR systems, we lack the technology in missile production," said Tomasz Badowski, chief defense analyst at the Euro-Atlantic Association, a think tank in Warsaw. "Cooperation with MBDA could permit [the Polish industry] to bridge the tech gap."
As Germany's bid could jeopardize the launch of the air defense tender, Bumar has intensified its research efforts and hopes to get government funding to quickly push ahead with a proposal and win the bid in its consortium with MBDA.
Poland's troubled relations with Russia play a key role in Warsaw's drive to acquire a new air defense system, analysts say. Medvedev visited the Polish capital Dec. 6, a trip that marked the first official visit by a Russian head of state to Poland in more than eight years, but the two countries have maintained frosty relations until recently.
The deployment of U.S. Patriot missiles on a training rotation at the Polish military base of Morag, in the country's northeast, was blasted by Moscow. Poland responded to Russia's objections in October, when the missiles were moved from Morag, where they have been stationed since last May, to the base in Torun, away from the Russian border.
Badowski said Poland's current air defense system is outdated and, despite Army modernization efforts, its cornerstone is based on Soviet technology.
"The missile defense systems used by anti-aircraft units of the Air Force are simply not capable of eliminating potential threats from the air," he said.
Norway In Norway, politicians skillfully linked support for the NATO missile shield with its own strategic High North defense plan. Norway had initially shown clear reluctance to row in behind the NATO plan, but warmed to the project after persuading NATO to deepen its commitment to High North and Arctic defenses.
The substantive concern among Norwegian legislators and military was that the shield would offer protection only to some NATO members; Norway was adamant it protect all NATO states. The transition from being an opponent to a supporter of the plan was rapid. Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen, Norway's former defense minister, was the only representative to publicly voice opposition to the plan at a NATO meeting in Vilnius in February 2008.
Strøm-Erichsen told the NATO meeting in the Lithuanian capital that Norway questioned the "need for a missile defense system," warning such a move could trigger "an arms race."
Extending the system's geo-graphic range was proposed during discussions between Benson Whitney, the then-U.S. ambassador to Norway, and Norway's state secretary for foreign affairs, Raymond Johansen.
Whitney noted that Norway was likely to abandon its opposition if the protective umbrella was broadened to include all NATO-aligned states in Europe, and if NATO was open to signing bilateral agreements on missile defense with Poland and the Czech Republic.
Norway regarded the widening of the protective range as pivotal to its objective of strengthening its own anti-missile capability, primarily directed at Russia's long- and medium-range missile arsenal on its doorstep on the Kola Peninsula.
However, this strategic view changed as Norway became more proactive in building a so-called "bridge of cooperation" between NATO and Russia on the missile shield issue, in the hope that a joint NATO-Russian solution would better serve the country's security interests in the High North Norway's initial lukewarm reception to the missile defense system was also influenced by its wish to see NATO cooperate with Russia on a broader missile defense program. The Norwegian view is that the dividend in NATO-Russian cooperation in this arena is reduced tension in the High North and Arctic regions.
To this extent, Norway got its wish when the Obama administration decided to scrap the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of expanding the shield program to include all NATO countries in Europe and North America.
NATO-Russian missile shield cooperation has long been regarded by Norway as the best means of accelerating the end to the last remnants of the Cold War. Norway lobbied strongly for NATO to invite Russia to the negotiating table ahead of the organization's summit meeting in Lisbon last November. "By reaching out and inviting Russia to cooperate with us, I believe we also have a real chance to build a security roof for the entire Euro-Atlantic area," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Lisbon. The U.S. and NATO have a special interest in maintaining a trouble-free relationship with Norway, which has increased its funding toward surveillance of Russian forces on Kola and provided intelligence data on changing missile capabilities and progress on new missile assets and tests by Russia in the region.
This intelligence transfer will cover the planned test-firing of Bulava missiles by the Severodvinsk-based Yuri Dolgoruky Borey-class submarines, the newest strategic subs in Russia's fleet, in June or July. Turkey In Turkey, a decision about acquiring a national long-range air defense system will likely wait for several months after June legislative elections. Meanwhile, Turkey's participation in the NATO missile shield has involved some politically touchy issues.Turkey's proposed national air defense system is being designed to counter both aircraft and ballistic missiles, and will be independent from the NATO missile shield. But since both systems are, by nature, anti-ballistic missile schemes and both are supposed to protect Turkish soil, they will have to be integrated in some way.
But the U.S. and some of its Western partners are staunchly opposed to the integration of any Russian or Chinese system into the NATO missile shield.
"American officials already have said that non-NATO elements would cause serious interoperability problems," one Turkish diplomat said.
The defense analyst said Western worries are related to both defense and commercial concerns.
"They [the Westerners] simply don't want Turkey to select Russian or Chinese options, and part of their concern is commercial," the diplomat said.
In the event Turkey effectively drops Russia and China from the list of contenders, the competition will be left to a rivalry between U.S. and Italian-French companies.
At the Lisbon summit, Turkey managed to persuade its NATO partners not to mention any countries as specific threats, although French President Nicolas Sarkozy explicitly said the ballistic missile threat was coming from Iran. At Turkey's request, the need to protect all NATO territory was also included in the decision text, as Turkey has close and developing ties with Iran.
"In any case, Turkish and NATO officials will have tough talks, with Turkey wanting a lot in return for the deployment of X-band radars on its territory," the defense analyst said. "Again, the next Turkish Cabinet will make the final decision on that."
Nabi Abdullaev in Moscow, Jaroslaw Adamowski in Warsaw, Burak Ege Bekdil and Umit Enginsoy in Ankara, and Gerard O'Dwyer in Helsinki contributed.

Swedish Parliament OKs 8 Jets for Libya Operation

STOCKHOLM - The Swedish parliament on April 1 voted in favor of sending eight Swedish fighter jets to contribute to the international mission to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.
The vote clears the way for the Swedish air force's first international deployment in 48 years.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said March 29 he would put to parliament the proposal of sending eight Swedish-built fighter jets, a transport plane and a reconnaissance plane to Libya, stressing Swedish jets would not be involved in ground strikes.
Sweden's participation in the mission had received broad political support and the proposal was widely expected to pass.
The Nordic country is not a member of NATO, although it has been in NATO's Partnership for Peace program since 1994 and participates in the alliance's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) force in Afghanistan with some 500 troops.
The country's air force has not been involved in action since 1963, in a U.N.-mandated operation in the former Belgian Congo.

South Africa Launches Combat Helicopter Program

JOHANNESBURG - South African defense firm Denel handed its new Rooivalk armed helicopter over to the military April 1, a project 27 years in the making touted as a boost to national pride.
The Rooivalk program, which cost an estimated 613 billion rand ($91 billion, 64 billion euros) from its launch in 1984 under the apartheid regime, had often been derided as a waste of money in a country whose military mission had changed radically during that time.

But air force leaders and defense contractors said April 1 the handover of five combat-ready helicopters was a proud day for South Africa and a sign of the country's robust industry.
"It proves that South Africa has the capacity for design, engineering and manufacturing to compete effectively in the global environment," said Antonie Visser, chief of defense materiel for the South African defense department.
"It is giving a certain image to South Africa, that we are capable of producing such equipment. That's exactly the reason why there are many aviation companies that make use of South Africa to help them manufacture certain components," he told AFP.
The Rooivalk, which can be armed with anti-tank missiles and is equipped for night combat, was conceived during the apartheid era when South Africa was under a United Nations arms embargo and needed air support for troops fighting a war against the post-independence government in Angola.
But the country's history and military mission changed dramatically with the fall of white-minority rule, throwing the helicopter into an uncertain future.
Plans to export the helicopter foundered as the project dragged on. To date the only customer is the South African government, which plans to buy a modest total of 11 Rooivalks - the remaining six to be delivered by year's end.

NATO Now in Full Control of Libya Mission

BRUSSELS - NATO on March 31 warned Libyan forces they would be "ill-advised" to kill civilians as the alliance took sole command of air strikes that were under U.S. leadership.

Libyan rebels drive toward the city of Brega on March 31, en route to a battle with forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. (Mahmud Hams / Agence France-Presse)

An armada of ships and warplanes from the United States, France, Britain, Canada and other coalition nations came under NATO control after the 28-nation military organization overcame internal divisions to take over the mission.

U.S., British, French, Canadian, Danish and Belgian jets have attacked Moammar Gadhafi's ground forces since March 19 under a U.N. mandate to use "all necessary measures" to protect civilians.
Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of Operation Unified Protector, said NATO aircraft had flown 90 missions since the alliance took charge at 0600 GMT March 31.
"Those who are acting against the civilian population and civilian centers, you would be ill-advised to continue such activities, I recommend that you cease these activities," Bouchard told reporters via video link from his headquarters in Naples, Italy, stressing that NATO would remain "impartial."
The United States, already stretched after a decade of combat in Afghanistan and a fragile situation in Iraq, had been eager to hand over control of the operations to someone else.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance will be able to declare "mission accomplished" when "the civilian population in Libya is not under threat any longer."
But he acknowledged it was impossible to know when this would happen, and he stressed that a political solution, not just military means, was needed to resolve the conflict.
"I urge all parties to seek a political decision sooner rather than later and ensure a political transition to democracy. But I'm not able to lay out a timetable," he said at a conference in Stockholm.
The alliance stressed it would stick to the U.N. mandate to shield civilians, as Rasmussen reiterated his opposition to arming the rebels.
The head of NATO's military committee, Italian Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola, said there was no discussion about deploying troops. He also denied that NATO was coordinating its operations with the rebels.
Asked about reports that the CIA was on the ground in Libya, Di Paola said NATO does not question the source of intelligence it receives from allies.
Di Paola said he expected some 20 NATO allies to provide assets for one or all three operations under alliance control - the strikes on ground forces threatening civilians, a no-fly zone, and an arms embargo.
But key NATO members have voiced unease about the bombing missions.
Bouchard vowed that NATO pilots would conduct their missions "with care and precision" in order to "avoid harming the people of Libya."
The general launched a probe into allegations made by a Tripoli-based Italian bishop that dozens of civilians were killed during coalition bombings.
No date was given for the incident, which could not be independently verified.
Turkey, NATO's sole Muslim member, criticized the scope of the coalition strikes and has made clear its planes would not take part in any airstrikes.
Another major NATO member, Germany, refused to vote for the U.N. Security Council resolution that authorized the use of force and will stay out of the offensive operations.
The Netherlands has contributed planes but they will only participate in maintaining a no-fly zone to prevent hostile jets from flying, not the strikes against other targets.
NATO wants to bring outside partners into the mission, especially Arab nations. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are the only Middle Eastern nations to have provided jets.
Sweden, a NATO partner but not member, offered fighter jets but said it would not conduct ground strikes.

Pakistan Extends Tenure of Military Intelligence Chief

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan said April 1 it had given the chief of the country's powerful military spy agency an extra year in the job after he had been set to retire.
Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, who was appointed chief of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) - involved in combating al-Qaida and the Taliban - in 2008, had been due to retire from service last month.

"A one year extension has been given" to the ISI chief, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on the phone-in program "Prime Minister Online" on state-run Pakistan Television, adding it was granted to ensure continuity.
"He (Pasha) is an intelligent person," he said. This is the second one-year extension the ISI head has received.
In July last year, Gilani extended the tenure of army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani by three years.
Pasha is considered close to the relatively reformist Kayani, who previously ran the ISI until October 2007 before assuming command of the army from former President Pervez Musharraf a month later. Musharraf stepped down amid international pressure to end his eight years of military rule.
In theory, the ISI works under the control of the prime minister, but in practice its functions are mainly run by Pakistan's pervasive security establishment.
ISI has been at the centre of concerns among western allies that it is either turning a blind eye to militants in Pakistan's troubled tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, or even actively sponsoring the rebels.
The shadowy spy agency is feared at home for playing a central, although covert political role. Pakistan has spent more than half its 62-year history under military rule.

Fire-Detection Radar Sale to Iraq Proposed

The Pentagon has told Congress that it wants to sell up to $300 million worth of fire-detection radars to Iraq, according to a Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notice.
If approved by lawmakers, the sale would include six AN/TPQ-36(V)10 Firefinder radars, 18 AN-TPQ-48 Lightweight Counter-Mortar radars, parts, training and logistical support, according to the DSCA notice. DSCA is the arm of the Pentagon that notifies lawmakers of proposed foreign military sales.

The Firefinder, built by Northrop Grumman and Thales Raytheon Systems, is a ground-based radar that detects medium-range mortars, artillery and rocket launchers, according to a Raytheon fact sheet. The U.S. Army and Marine Corps use the system.
The Lightweight Counter-Mortar radar, built by Syracuse, N.Y.-based SRCTec, detects and locates mortar firing positions by tracking the mortar shell to the weapon it was fired from, according to a company fact sheet.
"The proposed sale of the Firefinder radars will advance Iraq's efforts to develop an integrated ground defense capability and to develop a strong and dedicated military force," the DSCA notice states. "The Firefinder radars will enable Iraq to assume some of the missions currently accomplished by U.S. and coalition forces and to sustain itself in its efforts to establish stability to Iraq."
Smith-Detection Technologies in Edgewood, Md., ITT Corp. and L-3 Communications would also supply equipment should the contract be approved.

French DM: Libyan Air Campaign May Allow Settlement

Paris - The coalition air campaign against Libya is fulfilling the U.N. Security Council resolution that seeks to protect civilians from the Tripoli government, French Defense Minister Gérard Longuet said March 31.
"The implementation of this resolution is working," Longuet told journalists here, "and it is working well."

"Use of massive military weapons against the civilian population is no longer being seen," he said. Therefore, Longuet said, work on a political settlement is possible.
The allied intervention prevented a government assault on Benghazi, center of Libya's pro-democracy resistance, which had carried the threat of attacks on the civilian population, he said.
Implementation of the U.N. resolution continued following the transfer of command and control to NATO from the previous ad hoc coalition, he said. The NATO structure, which acts under the political control of a "contact group," had supported 191 air missions, which included 84 ground attack or close air support missions on the previous day, Longuet said.
French Air Force and Navy aircraft have accumulated 1,600 flight hours in some 250 sorties since the Libyan intervention began March 19, Air Force Gen. Jean-Jacques Borel, head of planning and logistics at the military's center for planning and operations, said March 31. That represents about 20 percent to 25 percent of the coalition's effort, making France the second-largest contributor after the U.S. military, Borel said.
That is a "dense" level of activity Borel said, declining to say how many hours French pilots fly in a normal year. No details were given on the number of GBU-12 and armament air sol modulaire (AASM) smart munitions that have been used in Libya.
Longuet said military and political events are changing fast on the ground, and fighting is taking place mainly between light troops in close combat, making it difficult for the air campaign to identify and distinguish the adversaries.
As part of the air campaign, French Air Force and Navy Rafale and Super Etendard fighter jets were among the allied warplanes that struck a surface-to-air missile site on the night of March 29, about 100 kilometers south of Tripoli, a Joint Staff spokesman, Army Col. Thierry Burkhard, told journalists.
The strike destroyed Scud missiles and transport vehicles for missiles and tanks, a French defense official said.
The French aircraft also struck a number of armored vehicles, and on March 28, they destroyed an ammunition depot, Burkhard said.
Much of the Libyan fixed air defense sites had been destroyed, but there are many light, short-range, mobile anti-aircraft batteries and shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles that will never be eliminated, Burkhard said.
Six Mirage 2000-5 fighters sent by Qatar are flying joint air defense patrols from an air base in Crete with four French Mirages of the same type as part of the coalition effort, Burkhard said.
There were no operational details on the six Mirage 2000-9 and six F-16 Block 60 warplanes, based in Sardinia, that were sent by the United Arab Emirates.
As of March 30, of the 191 missions mounted by the coalition, U.S. forces had flown 100, or 52 percent; France flew 40, or 21 percent; and Britain flew 23, or 8 percent. Other allies who flew missions were the Netherlands, Denmark and Qatar, the French defense official said.