Free Republic

South Korea’s newly elected president, Moon Jae-in, has suspended the deployment of an American missile defense system, an apparent concession to China and a significant break with the United States on policy toward North Korea.

DELTA JUNCTION, Alaska — As early as this summer, rockets hidden in silos near this wind-swept town will give the nation its first operating defense against intercontinental ballistic missiles since the 1970's. Although the system is not a secret, it has been revived with so little fanfare that few Americans seem to realize it exists. Among warfare experts, it is reviving the type of bitter debate that began in the cold war, culminating in an antiballistic missile treaty. And it is inspiring the same sort of passion that arose during the national fixation with President Ronald Reagan's Star Wars effort,...

U.S. Almost Exhausted Arsenal of Interceptors SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo., March 16 -- In a war game run here Tuesday, a country resembling North Korea launched six ballistic missiles at the United States and put to the test an antimissile system modeled after the one being developed by the Bush administration. The size of the salvo threatened to exhaust the U.S. arsenal of long-range interceptors, which was set at six in the game. When one of the interceptors missed, role players who were standing in for chains of authority stretching from the U.S. president to firing crews were confronted...

Elta expects US license for anti-missile system in Q1 2004 The license will enable Israel Aircraft Industries-Elta to supply the systems for thousands of US passenger airliners. Dror Marom 29 Oct 03 15:08The licensing process for the Israeli systems for countering missile threats to passenger airliners is slated for completion in the first quarter of 2004. Achieving this target will enable Israel Aircraft Industries subsidiary Elta Electronic Industries to commence sales and deliveries of its systems to hundreds of US airlines, operating 7,000 airliners. Elta has signed a business agreement with US aerospace and missile manufacturer Raytheon (NSYE: RTN), which...

Anti-missile system to use blimp 25 times larger than Goodyear's The United States has been developing what could become a new concept in destroying enemy ballistic missiles in their boost phase. The concept calls for stationing a huge blimp out of enemy aircraft or missile range that would detect preparations for and launch of any enemy ballistic missile. The blimp would then relay the information to fighter jets that would shoot down the enemy launcher or missile. The project has been sponsored by the Defense Department's Missile Defense Agency. The agency has awarded Lockheed Martin a $40 million design and...