|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
New Missile Threat to America Charles R. Smith Outlaw State Building Ship-Based Missile to Strike U.S. Homeland The Bush administration is concerned that the U.S. homeland may come under attack from a ship-based short-range missile in the very near future. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz recently stated that U.S. intelligence satellites had observed a hostile foreign power testing of a ship-based ballistic missile system. However, Wolfowitz refused to identify the nation involved. According to Wolfowitz, "we have observed an outlaw state" developing a ship-launched missile capability. U.S. officials are concerned that rogue nations or proxy terrorist groups may hide SCUD or North Korean-made No Dong missiles inside commercial ships to launch a surprise attack against U.S. coastal cities. Ships equipped to fire hidden missiles may be able to approach unnoticed within a few miles of the U.S. coastline and attack major East Coast or West Coast cities with little or no warning. Outside the Box "This new focus is a welcome development. It indicates that the Bush administration has begun to think 'outside the box' on the issues of missile defense and homeland security," stated Ilan Berman, vice president for policy at the American Foreign Policy Council. "In addition to work on the traditional components of its national missile defense architecture, the Pentagon is now looking over the horizon at emerging threats and unconventional scenarios involving proliferation and terrorism, including the possibility of ship-borne missile attacks," noted Berman. Patriot Missiles for U.S. Home Defense The concern that the U.S. homeland may come under attack from short-range sea-based missiles has Pentagon analysts concerned enough to seek money to quickly improve U.S. defenses. "We are looking at ways to accelerate the production of (Patriot) PAC-3 out of concern for near-term vulnerabilities," stated Undersecretary Wolfowitz. "It remains to be seen if the White House will translate this new focus into concrete action by deploying theater missile defenses at home. Clearly, though, there is an emerging consensus among U.S. policymakers that a convincing case can be made for such a move as part of the Bush administration's homeland security efforts," concluded Berman. The concern that a rogue state may deliver a weapon of mass destruction using a short-range missile was heightened when North Korea admitted to an ongoing nuclear weapons program. CIA analysts recently noted that North Korea has up to three plutonium-based nuclear warheads, which could be delivered from the 400-mile range No Dong missile. However, both the SCUD and No Dong missiles require volatile liquid propellants to be loaded before firing. The fueling process can take several hours before a missile is ready to fire. However, the liquid propellant problem does not apply to advanced Chinese-made missiles such as the solid fuel Dong Feng 11 or Dong Feng 15. Both missiles can be quickly fired from mobile platforms using solid-fuel propellants. The People's Liberation Army has sold the Chinese DF-11, also known as the M-11, to Asian client states. Pakistan has as many as 38 DF-11 missiles and produces a virtual carbon copy of the Chinese design, which is called the Shaheen. Cruise Missile Threat to U.S. Homeland Ballistic missiles are not the only threat to U.S. coastal cities that could easily be hidden on commercial shipping. Several rogue states such as Iran, Libya, North Korea and Iraq have also purchased advanced airborne cruise missiles. Defense Undersecretary Wolfowitz noted that it is not "far fetched" that such weapons could be used by a rogue nation or a proxy terrorist group to attack the U.S. from platforms close to the American shores. China has exported several types of cruise missile systems to Iran, Iraq and Libya, including long-range C-802 Silkworm missiles and shorter-range C-801 Sardine missiles. China also recently test-fired a 150-mile-range C-803 cruise missile from its indigenously developed FH-7 strike fighter. The FH-7 strike fighter is being considered by Iran as a replacement for its aging force of U.S.-made F-4 Phantoms. The C-803, described as a supersonic version of the C-802 Silkworm, is clearly aimed at future export sales to Middle East customers and is teamed with its launch platform, the FH-7 strike fighter. In addition, France sold Exocet anti-ship missiles to Iraq prior to the 1991 Gulf War. An Iraqi F-1 successfully used an Exocet to damage the American Destroyer USS Stark prior to the 1991 war. Iraqi forces were also able to modify and launch two Exocet missiles at land-based targets from Mirage F-1 fighter jets during the Gulf War. Although the Exocet missiles missed their intended targets, the launches demonstrated that Iraq could modify existing hardware to serve in the land attack role. Airborne cruise missiles such as the Silkworm or Exocet can be fired from shipboard launcher systems. The cruise missiles and launchers could easily be hidden inside a cargo vessel until just prior to firing. Unlike the SCUD, No Dong or DF-11 ballistic missile threats, a cruise missile attack would provide little warning before a strike. Airborne cruise missiles such as Silkworm and Exocet are designed to fly at sea-skimming levels only a few feet above the surface in order to avoid radar contact. The French-made Exocet and Chinese-made Sardine cruise missiles are unlikely to be armed with nuclear weapons. Both anti-ship missiles are normally armed with small, lightweight high-explosive warheads. Yet both missiles could be equipped with chemical or biological agents. Iraqi Silkworm Chemical Warhead The Chinese Silkworm missile, however, is normally equipped with up to one ton of high explosives, and could easily be modified for chemical or nuclear warheads. Iraq reportedly modified a number of Silkworm missiles to carry nerve gas warheads. U.N. inspection teams are expected to closely monitor Silkworm missile sites. In addition to the modified Silkworm missiles, Iraq has modified a number of manned aircraft to operate as unmanned cruise missiles. Iraq reportedly modified a Czech Delfin jet trainer and a MiG-23 Flogger to operate as unmanned cruise missiles equipped with chemical warheads. Both the MiG-23 and the Delfin have the capability to be launched from short ramps using rocket boosters. The threat to U.S. coastal cities was underscored recently when a small cargo vessel beached itself in south Florida. The cargo ship landed over 100 Haitian refugees onto the Florida beaches and onto a nearby highway. Defense officials noted that the ship could have easily been armed with several cruise missiles, a single short-range ballistic missile or a simple chemical weapon. Need for Human Intelligence "This is a hard one to get the arms around. WMDs can be delivered by platforms ranging from an ICBM to a U-Haul rental truck," stated Richard Fisher, a Senior Fellow at the Jamestown Foundation. "SRBMs (short-range ballistic missiles) and cruise missiles may still lean toward the high end of this spectrum, but they represent a present threat nonetheless. New technologies like long-range reconnaissance UAVs and the SIBRS series of LEO satellites may be necessary parts of the response, but we will also need vastly enhanced human intelligence resources to provide warning before these threats get close enough to fire," concluded Fisher.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Editor's note:
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2008 NewsMax.Com |