The U.S. is showing reluctance to provide Japan with a system that would give it missile-launch data directly from a U.S. early-warning satellite, complicating Japan's plans to deploy Aegis missile defense cruisers.
The US Defense Budget for 2005 contains a program that some analysts say could "cross the Rubicon into space weaponization". The program in question, the Near Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE) satellite, is primarily designed to track ballistic missiles from space for missile defense but it will also contain a smaller "kill vehicle" that can be used to attack missiles or enemy satellites.
U.S. and Russian officials are meeting to discuss the need for sharing missile early warning data.
Two planned U.S. Defense Department satellites are behind schedule and over budget, jeopardizing White House plans for a ground-based missile defense system.
The United States and Russia are close to finalizing a memorandum of understanding on jointly building and operating two experimental satellites to track ballistic missile launches.
The U.S. has agreed to conditionally share its early warning missile data with Taiwan.
The United States issued a false alarm to Japan Sunday saying that a Chinese missile might fall into waters near the Japanese island of Okinawa. The mistake has added to calls within Japan to bolster Japanese intelligence capabilities rather than relying on U.S. information.
The author argues that the U.S. should continue funding for the RAMOS project, a cooperative effort with Russia to enhance early warning satellite technology.
The cost of a new U.S. system of early warning satellites has soared and its heat-seeking sensors that are critical to detecting enemy missile launches don't work, according to the House Appropriations Committee.
Already three years on the drawing board, a U.S.-Russian center aimed at avoiding accidental missile launches won't open for at least another year according to Defense Department officials.