Iran to Deploy Higher-Orbiting Satellite

Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011

A planned Iranian-built satellite would circle the earth at an altitude of more than 22,000 miles, far higher than orbiters previously deployed by the Middle Eastern nation, the Iranian Students' News Agency reported on Monday (see GSN, July 13).

Students at Iran's Sharif University of Technology would build the craft, "the last student satellite series which is to be fired into space," university president Reza Rosta-Azad told the news agency.

The lower orbits of Iran's previously launched satellites have limited the amount of time they could remain in space, he said (Iranian Students' News Agency, Aug. 9). Tehran last month indicated it had deployed its Rasad 1 satellite at an orbit of roughly 160 miles, the Xinhua News Agency reported (Xinhua News Agency, Aug. 9).

"Satellites should be sent into space when the launch power is raised, so that they would remain in space for a long time to work more effectively," Rosta-Azad told ISNA. "The first Iranian satellite launched into space managed to remain for two months (see GSN, Feb. 3, 2009). The second one which is able to take photos was placed at a higher altitude and has a more lifespan."

Iran would formally announce the new orbiter at a later date, he said (Iranian Students' News Agency).

The United States and other countries closely monitor Iranian space developments, as the same ballistic missile technology that is used to launch satellites can also be used to fire warheads, according to Xinhua. Iran's continuing nuclear development is suspected by Washington and other governments of being secretly aimed at attaining a weapons capability, a charge Tehran strongly denies (Xinhua News Agency)
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Military > Cartwright Passed Over for Top U.S. Military Post

Cartwright Passed Over for Top U.S. Military Post

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

By Elaine M. Grossman

Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON -- President Obama has decided to pass over Gen. James Cartwright for the U.S. military's highest post as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to defense sources (see GSN, Dec. 17, 2010).

(May. 24) - Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright, left, stands with President Obama at a White House event earlier this month. Obama has decided against appointing Cartwright to the country's top military position, according to defense sources (Saul Loeb/Getty Images).

Said to be Obama's "favorite general," Cartwright enjoys bipartisan support in the Senate -- which would have been asked to confirm him -- and was believed to be the front-runner to take the post when Adm. Michael Mullen retires this summer.

However, serving as the nation's No. 2 military officer since August 2007, the Marine general has frequently crossed swords with Mullen. It is widely believed this discord jeopardized the 61-year-old officer's hopes of continuing his military career.

Cartwright's spokesman declined comment on the matter.

The Rockford, Ill., native did not actively lobby for the chairman's job but would have been happy to undertake the post, according to a number of military officials.

He is widely regarded as a brainy and enormously capable officer who has established close ties with top Pentagon and White House civilians, but has clashed with a number of his peers over both substantive issues and operating style.  Full article

North Korean Missile Reach Will Extend to U.S.: Senior Intel Official

Thursday, May 19, 2011

By Diane Barnes

Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON -- North Korea's ballistic missile program would eventually yield systems capable of delivering nuclear weapons to the United States, a senior U.S. intelligence official said on Wednesday (see GSN, April 14).

(May. 19) - A North Korean missile unit, shown in a 1992 military parade in Pyongyang. North Korea is on track to one day produce ballistic missiles suited for carrying nuclear weapons to the United States, a high-level U.S. intelligence official said on Wednesday (Getty Images).

The North Korean missile threat is "very different from what we had 40 years ago with the Soviet Union and the threat of first strikes," Raymond Colston, the new national intelligence manager for Korea at the National Intelligence Director's Office, said during a Capitol Hill panel discussion of Korean Peninsula security issues.

"No one is looking at the North Koreans as building these systems to have a first-strike capability or anything like that. That's not what we're really concerned about. But they are certainly building missiles that eventually will be capable of targeting the U.S., and these missiles will be capable of having nuclear weapons."

The North has an aggressive missile development program that has included two apparent test launches of its Taepodong 2 long-range ballistic missile, in 2006 and 2009. The first flight ended in less than a minute, while the second rocket flew farther but apparently crashed down with the second and third stages failing to separate.

Pyongyang is not known to have yet developed nuclear warheads that could be loaded onto missiles. The regime, though, is believed to hold enough plutonium for six weapons and last November unveiled a uranium enrichment plant that could give it a second route for preparing weapons material.

Years of diplomatic activity under the six-party talks process have failed to persuade the regime to accept nuclear disarmament.

North Korea's proliferation of weapons systems is a "very serious concern," added the official, who spoke on the third day in his present position at the National Intelligence Director's Office.

The U.S. intelligence community, Colston said, has "reasons ... to be concerned that North Korea is a country that will sell just about anything, and we don't put past North Korea a willingness to sell even the most dangerous weapons that they might have."  Full article

image courtesy of:  enviro.org.au

Iran to Display New Ballistic Missiles

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Iran plans next Tuesday to show off a new set of ballistic missiles built recently within its borders, the country's Fars News Agency reported (see GSN, March 1).

Military equipment "including some vessels, ballistic missiles and new ammunitions will come into use on the occasion of Khorramshahr Liberation Anniversary," Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Wednesday, referring to Iran's 1982 victory against Iraq in a southern coastal city.

The nation's military would soon formally receive the new missiles, Vahidi said.

Iran's missile manufacturing systems have advanced significantly over the past 10 years, according to the media report. The Middle Eastern nation tested an antiship ballistic missile in February (see GSN, Feb. 10).

Iran's Revolutionary Guard last October received the third variant of the Fateh 110 ballistic missile, and another version of the weapon was due for testing soon, Fars reported. The Fateh 110 is a short-range, solid-fuel weapon suited for firing from a mobile launcher. The missile has sophisticated command and guidance mechanisms, the news report said (see GSN, Sept. 22, 2010; Fars News Agency, May 18).

Iran's Shahab 3 ballistic missile is the greatest source of worry for Western countries, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported. The weapon has a 1,240-mile range and could strike any point in Israel (Deutsche Presse-Agentur/Monsters and Critics, May 18)
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Russia Threatens Nuclear Arms Boost if Antimissile Dispute Persists

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday his nation would enhance its stockpile of nuclear weapons if it reaches no agreement with the United States to collaborate on a European antimissile framework, Reuters reported (see GSN, May 11).

(May. 18) - A Russian Topol-M ICBM, shown on display during a parade last week in Moscow's Red Square. Russia could bolster its nuclear arsenal if its reaches no deal with the United States on European missile defense cooperation, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday (Dmitry Kostyukov/Getty Images).

Moscow and NATO agreed last November in Lisbon, Portugal, to jointly explore areas for possible antimissile collaboration (see GSN, Nov. 22, 2010). A Kremlin proposal that Europe be divided into two sectors of missile defense responsibility, with NATO managing one and Russia the other, has not generated much interest among alliance members. The United States has said it would never place any NATO state's missile protection in Moscow's hands (see GSN, May 16).

"I hope the questions that I put to my colleague and friend President Obama will be answered and we can work out a model for cooperation in antimissile defense," Medvedev said.

"If we don't work this out, then we will have take steps to counter it, which we would not like. Then we are talking about forcing the development of our nuclear strike potential," the Russian president said. "This would be a very bad scenario, a scenario that would throw us back to the Cold War era" (Alexei Anishchuk, Reuters, May 18).

Failure to reach an agreement might prompt Moscow to cut short its compliance with the U.S.-Russian New START strategic arms control treaty, the Xinhua News Agency quoted him as saying. The pact requires both nations to cut their deployed strategic nuclear arsenals to 1,550 warheads and 700 delivery systems, and allows for verification inspections in the two countries (Xinhua News Agency, May 18).

Meanwhile, Russia's RS-24 ICBM will be suited within two decades to penetrate any antimissile system operated by another government, Russian strategic rocket forces head Lt. Gen. Sergei Karakayev said (seeGSN, March 4).

"It is necessary to note the new missiles' ability to be invulnerable before launch thanks to their mobility, as well as their ability to tackle the task of defeating any possible missile defense system within the next 15-20 years, should such a need arise," Russia Today on Tuesday quoted Karakayev as saying.

"The first missile regiment, comprised of two batteries armed with Yars advanced land-based mobile missile systems, equipped with RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles with multiple warheads, entered duty
at the Teikovo missile division, based in Ivanov region, on March 4," he noted. “This is a weapon that has accumulated the best qualities of the Topol-M missile and has acquired new combat possibilities.”

The official did not directly address Washington's missile shield plans for Europe (Russia Today, May 17).

Russia intends to begin a new series of test launches next month of its experimental Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile, RIA Novosti reported last week (see GSN, May 11).

"The launch will take place between June 15 and 17 from the Dmitry Donskoy nuclear submarine (in the White Sea)," a Defense Ministry insider said.

The Bulava is designed to carry 10 nuclear warheads as far as 5,000 miles. Seven of the missile's 14 trial launches to date have been successes, including two tests conducted in October (RIA Novosti, May 13)
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WMD > Russian missile troops get more WMD protection

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Russia has been providing significantly higher levels of WMD defense gear to the
military branch that manages the nation's land-based nuclear missiles, Interfax
reported on Tuesday (see GSN, March 4).

"Given the importance of the implementation of tasks of provision of alert duty
service and nuclear security, over 40 [tons] of radiation, chemical and biological
protection means were supplied to [the Russian strategic missile troops] in 2010,
which is double the volume of deliveries in previous years," said branch
spokesman Col. Vadim Koval.

Koval cited specifically a transportable decontamination system and a vehicle that
 would allow troops to safely investigate an area that might have been subject to
a WMD strike.

"These models of arms make it possible to reduce the time a commander needs to
take a decision and to maintain the combat capability of his subunits," Koval said.
"They will replace obsolete military hardware. Three chemical reconnaissance
vehicles will be supplied to [strategic missile troops] units in 2011. The delivery
of mobile spray stations started in 2008. Overall, the plan is to replace up to
80 percent of [missile troops] arms and means of radiation, chemical and biological
protection by 2020," he added (Interfax, May 3).

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