[IP] Missile Defense Agency Eyes Using Russian Radars, Targets]
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Missile Defense Agency Eyes Using Russian Radars, Targets
Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 08:11:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: TruChaos@xxxxxxx
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
*Missile Defense Agency Eyes Using Russian Radars, Targets
*
By Marc Selinger
05/13/2004 01:40:28 PM
The U.S. government is exploring the possibility of having Russia supply
radars or targets for use with American missile defenses, a congressman
said May 12.
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), a senior member of the House Armed Services
Committee and a leading proponent of improved U.S.-Russian ties, said
the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is interested in tapping Russia's "very
good" expertise in building radars that could track hostile ballistic
missiles. Getting access to such radars in Russia would also give the
United States another angle from which to monitor Chinese or North
Korean missile threats, the lawmaker said at a Capitol Hill breakfast
seminar sponsored by the National Defense University Foundation.
MDA also is interested in benefiting from Russia's know-how in producing
targets for missile defense tests, but Weldon said Moscow is unlikely to
be satisfied with such a role. "I don't think the Russians really want
to be in a position of having America constantly shoot down what they
put up in space," he said.
Russia has also been mentioned as a potential participant in MDA's new
Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) program, which aims to develop
interceptors that could shoot down ballistic missiles in their boost
phase of flight. MDA recently solicited industry suggestions for
possible foreign involvement in KEI. More than 20 responses were
submitted to the agency, which is evaluating those ideas (DAILY, April 14).
MDA is looking for ways to continue missile defense cooperation with
Russia following the agency's recent decision to cancel the
Russian-American Observation Satellite (RAMOS) program, a joint effort
between the two countries to provide Russia with new early-warning
satellite technology. MDA terminated RAMOS because it was concerned the
program would be too expensive to complete, but the agency pledged
instead to explore a "broad range" of new joint missile defense projects
with Russia (DAILY, Feb. 4). Defense Department officials declined to
discuss specifics.
http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_aerospacedaily_story.jsp?id=news/russ05134.xml
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