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PACIFIC
MISSILE RANGE FACILITY, KAUAI, Hawaii: In a first-of-its-kind dual
missile defense test today, Raytheon Company produced Standard
Missile-3 (SM-3) and Standard Missile-2 (SM-2) simultaneously engaged
targets over the Pacific Ocean.
This was the first time a U.S. Navy ship demonstrated simultaneous ship
engagements against both cruise and ballistic missile targets. It was
the eighth successful intercept for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense
system's SM-3. - [Raytheon Missiles Engage Ballistic Missile and Airborne Targets Over the Pacific Ocean]
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I showed you that so you'd appreciate this:
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Missile Defense Mischief
Wall Street Journal
April 27, 2007; Page A16
 One
of the Bush Administration's quiet successes has been missile defense
-- from the negotiated demise of the Cold War ABM Treaty to initial
ground-based deployments. But that progress is suddenly in jeopardy
from opposition in Russia and Congress, and just when we might really
begin to need it against the likes of Iran.
The immediate dispute concerns the U.S. offer to extend missile
defenses to Europe. The Czech Republic has expressed interest in
providing a site for a tracking radar, while Poland is considering
whether to host the interceptors that would destroy incoming missiles.
Linked to upgraded radars in Britain and Greenland and a
command-and-control system in Colorado, the Polish and Czech sites
could protect Europe from long-range missiles launched from Iran. It
would also provide an additional layer of defense for America's East
Coast. Tehran is expected to have long-range missiles by 2015 or
sooner, and since the world can't seem to muster the resolve to halt
its nuclear program, missile defense would seem a logical -- and urgent
-- priority.
If only.
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In the run-up to the '06 elections, one of the many dangers warned of if
Democrats gained control was missile defense. Pick your own
reason why, but democrats have done everything in their power to stop
us from developing an anti-missile defense system. When the newly
elected Republican congress authorized funds, Bill Clinton refused to
release them. Well guess what ? Democrats in Congress have
vowed to kill this initiative. . Representative Ellen Tauscher, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, is
opposing the Pentagon's $310 million request to begin construction next
year.
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The arguments against the "third site," as the Polish-Czech
contribution is known, are updated versions of the anti-Star Wars
rhetoric of the Reagan years. Ms. Tauscher claims the missile defense system isn't "fully tested,"
but the initial system the Bush Administration has fielded in Alaska
and California and now wants to extend to Europe isn't the final
architecture. The idea is to follow the models provided by the JSTAR
military surveillance plane and Predator spy plane. Both were still in
the experimental phase when they were called into service in the Gulf
War and Afghanistan, respectively. The missile defense system is
constantly being tested and upgraded.
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I'm having dinner this weekend with Thomas Jefferson, and will ask his counsel on what to do about these people.
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