Missile Defense In The 21st Century

This book examines the implications of emerging security environment for missile defense. It identifies the lessons concerning the questions provided by the Gulf War, focusing on the redirection of the Strategic Defense Initiative towards a capability for global protection against limited strikes.

The protection of the homeland is the top priority for U.S. national security strategy. Strategic defense, however, has been an overlooked dimension in the vast literature on the U.S. strategic posture, with even less attention given to the necessity and dynamics of security collaboration within North America. Drawing on the expertise of scholars from the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the book offers a wide range of perspectives on recent trends in, and future prospects for, the military and political evolution of North American strategic defense. North American strategic defense is a topic too often taken for granted: as this excellent book shows, that is a mistake. In the 21st century, perhaps even more than the 20th, it will be an issue of cardinal importance to both the United States and Canada. Eliot A. Cohen Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies NORAD’s binational command is unique, and this timely and ambitious book examines its continued relevance to North American defense against a host of new global threats. It broadens the focus of what we mean by North American defense, contemplates how we might include Mexico in various regional security arrangements, and considers the dynamics of expanded North American interdependence in the Trump era. Laura Dawson Director of the Canada Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars North American Strategic Defense in the 21st Century is an important book. This edited volume brings together a galaxy of stars, both rising and established, with outstanding credentials regarding NORAD and associated matter in the study of security. This original and well-written volume is the first of its kind since the Cold War – long overdue and impressive in contents. The chapters cover both panoramic issues and more specific matters, and the collection is essential reading for academics, policy-makers and the general public. Patrick James Dornsife Dean’s Professor, School of International Relations, University of Southern California

Since World War II, the ever improving sophistication in missiles capabilities in terms of payload, range, accuracy etc. had led to an unprecedented and unending arms race and proliferation. The obvious and connatural unificationof ballistic missile and nuclear bomb shaped it as the most high profile weapon system that has dominated the worldpolitics and security paradigm so intricately. With the new perception of deterrence and threat, the warfare has taken a new dimension.Concurrently; Ballistic Missile Defence as a concept evolved during 1960s. However, the two superpowers deploying thousands of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) remained effective stability tool during Cold War and development of missile defences were restricted through the regime of arms control treaties as in the perception of the bipolar world, Anti Ballistic Missile Systems will weaken the stability stratagem anchored on policyof Mutual Assured Destruction. Nevertheless, development of BMD system continued and remained one of the most controversial issues in the world politics and international security paradigm. Ballistic missile defence, from its concept has grown manifold. Initially, missile defences have been put into operation centred on destroying the launch platform through ground based nuclear tipped ballistic missile system. With increased sophistication in missile technology, the challenge is thrown to intercept an incoming ballistic missile in its boost phase, mid course phase or in terminal phase. Notwithstanding, there are many technological constraints to arrive at a desired comprehensive shield to provide effective and efficient security. A debate followed world over on efficacy and viability of such a defensive shield as the technology is yet to be proven and that is prohibitively costly. The debate also brings forward the environmental issues, weaponisation of space and lethality of missile defence against its counter measures and issues of proliferation and arms control. Despite all such criticism and debates over its viability, the urgency towards evelopment and deployment world over is alarming. With the phenomenal technological sophistication and growth, missile defence has acquired the status of a frontier of the 21st century, impacting global strategic stability as well as arms control. This book is an attempt to study the ballistic missile defence concepts, systems, technologies and its growing influence as a revolutionary military system and a strategic political tool. This study posits various strategic issuesin context to implications of missile defence development and deployment.

Nuclear weapons will continue indefinitely to play an indispensable role in U.S. national security policy: as a hedge against uncertainties, to deter potential aggressors who are both more diverse and less predictable than in the past, and to allow the United States to construct a more stable security environment. Recent nuclear tests by India and Pakistan make it clear that nuclear weapons remain part of the security setting. The aggressive pursuit of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons by states such as Iran and North Korea underscores the role of deterrence as a central component of U.S. security strategy.

As East Asia is entering the 21st Century, Japan, in reassessing its security environment and thus its strategic calculus, is on the verge of deploying latest jointly-researched theater missile defenses (TMD) to counter the threat of ballistic and cruise missiles. In parallel, the People's Republic of China is constantly modernizing its ballistic missile forces and is gearing up for a possible contingency with its self-proclaimed "high-tech adversaries". This work shows what drives Japan to deploy theater missile defenses and how the People's Republic of China is poised to be reacting to it.

Sweeping changes are occurring in the international system, presenting the United States with both opportunities and challenges. The East-West strategic rivalry that dominated the global security environment for over forty years has been fundamentally and, in a number of critical ways, irreversibly altered. Yet the world continues to be unpredictable and dangerous. Relations with Russia and China have improved dramatically in the last ten years but remain uncertain. Both states continue to emphasize and modernize their nuclear arsenals. In other regions of vital interest to the United States, potential adversaries increasingly have at their disposal advanced conventional and unconventional capabilities, as well as weapons of mass destruction and the means for their delivery. Together, these and other factors, such as the ongoing revolution in military technology, have engendered major adjustments in U.S. national security policy and in the strategy and forces that support U.S. security interests. A series of U.S. government analyses, including the Nuclear Posture Review and the Quadrennial Defense Review, has guided the restructuring of U.S. conventional forces and provided the basis for the late 1997 Presidential Decision Directive on nuclear weapons policy. Further analyses and adjustments will certainly follow. As a contribution to this dynamic process, this report assesses the rationale and requirements for U.S. nuclear weapons, and the infrastructure and people that are critical to their sustainment, in the current and future security environment. By so doing, the report is intended to promote greater understanding of the issues and the measures that will be necessary to sustain deterrence in an uncertain future. The American public and its leadership in both the Executive and Legislative branches must remain informed, involved, and supportive. Absent concerted and continuing high-level attention to the policies and programs supporting its nuclear forces, 7.