Written by / Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

MSMF 2009 Volume: 2 Issue: 2 (March)

During a joint press conference with Czech Republic Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded to a question on future U.S.-Czech missile defense program plans.

“Well, as the vice president also said in Munich, we are first and foremost very grateful to the Czech Republic, to the government and the people, for working with us to try to deter the threat from Iran. If we are able to deter that threat, it will be, in some measure, due to the courage of the Czech people in stepping up and being a partner to provide a strong defense in Europe against Iranian aggression that would certainly be present were they to obtain nuclear weapons.

“There are technical issues concerning missile defense that you know well. We had a very good discussion about our hopes to work together—the European Union and the United States—in dissuading the Iranians from pursuing nuclear weapons. But if the Iranians continue on this path, certainly one of the options for free countries like the Czech Republic, other Europeans, and the United States, is to defend ourselves. So this is one of those issues that really will rest with the decisions made by the Iranian government.”

Vice Chairman Cartwright Comments on Iranian Satellite Launch

Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine General James E. Cartwright provided comments during a Pentagon news conference regarding Iran’s successful satellite launch.

“The space launch that occurred—a space program and the technologies associated with a space program are technologies that are compatible with and commensurate with an intercontinental ballistic missile-type capability. So we have to worry about the transfer of that technology or the use of that technology for ballistic-missile-type capabilities that in range could basically range the United States and many of the European allies and the regional partners that we have. So you have to be concerned about that.

“That’s not an automatic. It doesn’t happen in a day or two. And the work that they have done thus far is, at best, rudimentary— very low orbit, very minimal energy to get up there. This is not a long-range missile, but it is the path toward that, so we have to worry about that.”

Russian Intentions Reiterated

Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that Moscow would be forced to position missiles on the European Union border if U.S. missile defense components were deployed in Central Europe.

After European security talks in Moscow with the foreign ministers of the Czech Republic and Sweden, Lavrov, the EU foreign policy chief and the EU external relations commissioner, said the issue of a third site for Washington’s global missile defense system had not been discussed in detail. “We do not mean our possible response to the deployment of the Third Site as a threat, and this has long since been made clear. This would be merely a forced military-technical step in the event that the third site is physically created,” he said. “If it is not created no reaction will follow from Russia,” the minister added.

Source: Russian News and Information Agency Novosti

Australian Defence Force Funds Sixth Wideband Global SATCOM Satellite

Military Satellite Communications Systems Wing has authorized Boeing $234 million to begin production of the sixth Wideband Global SATCOM satellite. All three of the WGS Block II satellites are now in full production, and the first Block II satellite is scheduled for delivery in 2011.

“As part of a cooperative agreement between the United States and Australian government, Australia is funding WGS-6. In November 2007, both countries signed a memorandum of understanding, which provides the Australian Defence Force access to WGS service worldwide in exchange for funding the constellation’s sixth satellite. Access to the WGS constellation will provide the Australian Defence Force the ability to conduct multiple and simultaneous military operations independently or as part of a coalition force,” read an SMC statement provided to MSMF.

With its first launch into geosynchronous orbit, October 10, 2007, WGS Space Vehicle (SV)-1 became the Department of Defense’s highest capacity communications satellite. A constellation of six satellites will provide service in both the X- and Ka-band frequency spectrums. WGS will supplant X-band communications now provided by the Defense Satellite Communications System and will also provide a new two-way Ka-band service. ♦

Back to Top