United States missile interceptor test ends in failure

Though the United States and Russia are showing interests in reducing the stock of destructive nuclear batteries, the decisions are not effective. The tones are still more like that of the predecessors; SALT1 and SALT2 as well as the STARTs.

The two 'pledges' but the consequent actions are always anti-pledges. Russia recently successfully tested a prototype ICBM with mammoth destructive capabilities which was antithetical to its reduction facade.

United States of course did not go to bed despite Obama's interest in engaging Russia. It is also advancing to prove that arms race has no end in sight. The latest test of a US missile interceptor system from a Southern California coastal base failed to destroy its target, the third such consecutive result for Boeing Co., according to the Defence Department.

In the test, target designed to emulate an incoming long-range ballistic missile was launched from the US Army's Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll, in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

The interceptor missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, though it failed to intercept its target. The US military has tested the ground-based defence system a total of 16 times, with eight confirmed instances of a successful interception, the last of which was reported in December of 2008.

The Pentagon has said that the latest test will not affect a decision to expand the missile defence system, which is in part aimed at North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme. Defence secretary Chuck Hagel announced in March an additional 14 new anti-missile interceptor batteries at a cost of nearly $1 billion.

The North Korea and Iran debacle have been Washington's excuses to bolster its arsenal while Russia usually cites US expansion into its 'sphere of influence'; Georgia, Poland and Ukraine as reason to be security-conscious and not go to bed too on missiles' build-up.

Iran announces new Security-oriented 'space tracking centre'

The Iranian defence minister revealed that a new Iranian space monitoring centre will track orbiting objects. It is the latest of Iran's space programme claims, which include sending a monkey into orbit.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad praised the new centre as a benchmark in the country's space programme.

“This is a highly great achievement and we are among the few countries with such a centre and if we send a satellite into the space, we can receive its information in our country,” Ahmadinejad said in an address inaugurating the centre in Markazi province on Sunday.  He added that the "inauguration of this centre has brought us one step closer to the complete use of space."

Defence Minister General Ahmad Vahidi told reporters that the centre would mostly be used to monitor satellites passing overhead using radar, electro-optic and radio systems.

Iran already maintains a number of command and control stations around the country, and one inside the territory of its regional ally Syria.

The US has voiced fears that developments in space technology could bring Tehran closer to making long-range missiles. This is the main reason while it is targeting her and her oil industry with crippling sanctions to crumble her muscle to develop nuclear missiles.

Tehran has denied these claims, maintaining that the space programme is purely civilian-orientated. Of particular concern to Washington is Iran’s ambition to put more satellites into orbit, which Tehran says are aimed at monitoring earthquakes, improving security and increasing military surveillance.

Iran regularly boasts about its many technological advances. In March, the Aerospace Industries Organization claimed it sent a monkey into space aboard a Pioneer explorer rocket. The monkey allegedly returned to Earth alive after being sent into orbit at an altitude of 120 kilometers.

Iran has claimed it sent a number of smaller animals into space, including a rat, turtles and worms aboard a capsule carried by its Kavoshgar-3 rocket in 2010. The Director of the Iran Space Agency (ISA), Hamid Fazeli, hailed the mission as a huge success and said it was a prelude to sending a human into space.

‘Missile defence killer’: Russia finalises testing on prototype ICBM

Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces have reported a successful launch of a next-generation ICBM that can supposedly pierce any anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system. The test came after the US announced it would resume its ABM programme in Europe.

The test missile launched from a mobile pad at 9:45pm (17:45 GMT) on Thursday, the Defense Ministry said Friday. The test was carried out in the Astrakhan region, deep inside Russian territory, and the prototype’s payload successfully hit the Balkhash range in Kazakhstan.

“The test launch was a success as the [simulated] warhead hit a designated target within the set time frame,” the Russian Defence Ministry statement said. “This test launch was intended to confirm technical characteristics of the missile, as well as to check the safety of the launch procedures and equipment.”

The launch was the third successful test of the prototype ICBM. The development of a new solid-fuel ICBM was officially announced in 2012, and is set to gradually replace the existing Topol-M and later the recently developed Yars missile complex. Strategic Missile Forces expect to finalize testing by the end of 2013 and put the new missile into production in 2014.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin welcomed the test, calling the new ICBM a “missile defence killer... Neither current nor future American missile defense systems will be able to prevent that missile from hitting a target dead on.”

Russia maintains at least 58 silo-based Soviet-made P36M ('SS-18 Satan' NATO classification) ballistic missiles, believed to be the most powerful in the world with up to 10 megaton-class warheads. The Strategic Missile Forces have 160 mobile Topol-M ('SS-25 Sickle') missile systems, 50 silo-based and 18 road-mobile Topol-M ('SS-27 Sickle B') systems, and 18 RS-24 Yars systems.

In recent years, two missile divisions were re-armed with the newest Topol-M and Yars systems, and more will follow in 2013. The Defense Ministry is also preparing to introduce the latest automated battle management system (ASBU), enabling rapid retargeting of ICBMs.

Russia sped up development of new intercontinental ballistic missile systems after the US announced plans to continue deploying its missile defence system in Eastern Europe, near Russian borders.

The issue of the US missile shield in Europe has become a major stumbling block in Russia-US relations. Moscow has demanded legal guarantees from Washington that missile defence systems deployed in Europe would not target Russia's strategic nuclear deterrence capabilities. But Washington refused, citing a need to protect Europe from ‘rogue states' like Iran and North Korea.

In mid-March of 2013, Washington attempted to engage Moscow in new talks about further nuclear arms reduction, after presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev agreed to reduce their nuclear stocks with the New START arms reduction treaty. The US said it would no longer deploy SM-3 IIB ballistic missile interceptors in Poland until 2022.

Nevertheless, Moscow still demands legally binding guarantees from Washington that the system's intentions are peaceful.

On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with the Polish Foreign Minister, and committed to deploy missile defences in Poland by 2018 as planned. “We are on track to deploy a missile defence site in Poland by 2018 as part of NATO’s modernized approach to our security,” Kerry said.

Russia under Vladimir Putin is not likely to take any US missile defence shield deployment lightly. Putin  maintains Russia's stand as a real 'checker' to US activities.

The Syrian debacle perfectly illustrates Putin's stand viz a viz the US and NATO; he maintains that Libya will never repeat itself just as when he took over from Boris Yeltsin who was pro-US in a way and changed the course of Russia's foreign policy, becoming a facsimile of Soviet days.

United States Radar to Visit Japan

North Korea has got the US, South Korea and Japan on their toes with the last rocket launch. This has made the US to concentrate more on the events going on around the region.

The US is planning to install an early-warning radar system at a coastal base near the Japanese city of Kyoto to bolster its defences against the North Korean missile threat, reports in the Japanese media claim.

It’ll be the second X-band radar system to be installed in Japan, with another one already operating in northern Aomori prefecture. The location was selected as military experts believe that a North Korean missile targeting Guam or Hawaii would most likely fly over western or central parts of Japan.