Missile Defence for Security

, Brig. Gen. Patrick J. O’Reilly, Deputy Director for the US Missile Defense Agency, Office of the Secretary of Defense, heading a delegation, paid a visit to Hungary on 28-29 March. The general conducted talks with his Hungarian colleagues in the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and briefed the National Assembly’s Defence and Internal Security Committee on the U.S. missile defense strategy and on plans for deployment of facilities in the Czech Republic and Poland. 
 
The delegation was visiting Budapest and several other European capitals as part of a continuous effort to keep U.S. allies and strategic partners informed of this ongoing initiative. 
 
Brig. Gen. O’Reilly held a press conference on 28th March in the afternoon, which was opened by April H. Foley, US Ambassador accredited in Budapest. The ambassador said the United States considered it important to inform its European partners about the deployment plans concerning the radar stations and the interceptor sites to be fielded in Europe, and to clearly introduce the concept of missile defence. She pointed out that the keyword in the phrase ‘ballistic missile defence’ is ‘defence’. 
 
This remark is all the more timely because there are some signals suggesting that Russia considers the part of the program concerning Poland and the Czech Republic as a kind of threat. The ambassador added that the USA did not intend to deploy any facilities in Hungary. 
 
The US general started his presentation by introducing the nature of the threat, stressing that growing proliferation results in a situation where the ballistic missiles owned by certain rouge states (North Korea, Iran) as well as by non-state actors (like the terrorist organisation ‘Hezbollah’ in Lebanon) pose a serious risk to the security of the United States and its allies. 
 
While twenty years ago only eight countries had ballistic missiles, today 24 states have the capability to launch these weapons, including intercontinental missiles. The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that it is almost impossible to exactly predict when a given state comes to possess this type of capability. Therefore the goal of the US initiative (Ballistic Missile Defence, BMD) is to provide a shield which would protect the USA and its allies against medium- and long-range ballistic missile attacks. 
 
There are three basic phases of ballistic missile trajectories: boost, midcourse and terminal. Boost phase is the portion of flight immediately after launch, when the missile is to gain acceleration under power to lift its payload into the air (airspace). This lasts 3-5 minutes. Midcourse phase is the longest part of the missile flight. It is where the missile payload has separated from the booster rocket and is coasting unpowered toward a target. This phase can be as long as 20 minutes. The final phase is called terminal. This is when the missile's warhead re-enters the earth's atmosphere and falls towards its target, propelled only by its momentum and the force of gravity. However, its speed can be thousands of miles per hour. This phase lasts approximately 30 seconds. 
 
According to the BMD program, missiles in the boost phase would be intercepted by air-based lasers and weapons utilising kinetic energy. The missiles flying in their midcourse phase would be eliminated by ground-based weapons and the sea-based Aegis ballistic missile defence system. 
 
The defence program proposes to intercept the missiles reaching the terminal phase among others by the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, the Patriot PAC-3 missiles and the Medium Extended Air Defense System which is a co-development program with Germany and Italy. Interestingly, the system would use a so-called hit-and-kill technology to intercept re-entry vehicles in the terminal phase, without using any warheads. 
 
The enemy missiles are to be detected with satellite sensor systems and ground-based surveillance radar equipment. In addition, the BMD requires an advanced and highly complex command and control element to effectively integrate system segments and execute battle management functions, which is called Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC). 
 
According to schedule, 54 interceptor systems will have been deployed by 2013, 44 in the USA and ten in Europe. Experts have concluded the system would yield optimal coverage if the interceptor site were set up in Poland, and a radar site in the Czech Republic, so the resulting system would protect the European countries from intermediate to long-range missile attacks launched from the Middle East, and from long-range ones launched from North Korea. 
 
The USA is actively co-operating with NATO in implementing the missile defence program. US experts regularly participate in the sessions of the North Atlantic Council and the NATO-Russia Council, and take part in NATO’s missile defence project. The Ballistic Missile Defense System is designed to interface and be fully interoperable with NATO’s defence network.