Missile Shield

Senior U.S. and Czech Foreign Ministry officials are holding talks to discuss ways for the Czech Republic to participate in a reworked U.S. missile defense plan. Monday's visit of Ellen Tauscher, the U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, comes a month after Vice President Joe Biden won Czech support for the new plan. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Alexander Vershbow said earlier this month in Prague the U.S. proposed concrete ideas for Czech participation. The Obama administration scrapped Bush-era blueprints to base a missile defense shield in the Czech Republic and Poland designed to shoot down long-range missiles. The new system ... Read Full Story

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. missile defense system that is too robust could actually backfire and become destabilizing, prompting countries like China to expand their nuclear arsenals, a U.S. general said on Tuesday. Air Force General Kevin Chilton, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, did not question the current system, which was revised by President Barack Obama and the Pentagon in September. But he explained that careful calculations would be needed when boosting U.S. defenses in the future to guard against threats from countries like North Korea. "We have to be cautious with missile defense. Missile defense can be destabilizing depending on how you ... Read Full Story

A Japanese navy ship intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile in a test off Hawaii, the U.S. and Japanese militaries said Tuesday. The drill was the third such test for Japan, which began investing in a U.S.-developed ballistic missile defense system after North Korea test-fired a long-range missile over northern Japan in 1998. The U.S. fired the test's target from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, and the JS Myoko destroyer detected the target, tracked it, then fired an SM-3 interceptor missile from its deck. The interceptor hit the target in space about 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean, the militaries said in a ... Read Full Story

Senior U.S. and Czech defense officials held talks Friday to discuss ways for the Czech Republic to participate in a reworked U.S. missile defense plan. U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Alexander Vershbow told reporters the U.S. "did present ... some concrete ideas to begin that process of developing the Czech role in the new approach." Vershbow's visit comes two weeks after Vice President Joe Biden won Czech support for the new plan. In September the Obama administration scrapped Bush-era blueprints for basing long range interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic as part of a missile defense shield designed to shoot ... Read Full Story

US Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Prague Thursday on the last leg of his tour of three ex-communist NATO allies to pitch a new US missile defence plan, after winning backing from Poland and Romania. Biden, who flew in from Romania, will meet with Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, President Vaclav Klaus as well as Czech politicians and business leaders on Friday. The new US anti-missile system is expected to top Biden's agenda with Czech leaders after he secured support for the plans in Poland on Wednesday as well as in Romania. In Prague, Biden is also expected to discuss US investment in ... Read Full Story