US Contractors Eye Gains from Polish Shield Deal

US Contractors Eye Gains from Polish Shield Deal (NSI News Source Info) August 28, 2008: The US has spent more than $120bn on missile defences over the past 25 years since former president Ronald Reagan's famous 'Star Wars' speech in Poland's hosting of part of a US missile shield for Europe should generate sales for American defence contractors. However, critics say the whole effort amounts to a multibillion-dollar sham. Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters, investigates.1983.

The new system in Europe, which includes ten interceptor rockets in Poland and a sophisticated radar complex in the Czech Republic, should cost another $4bn over the next few years, according to the US Missile Defense Agency. "US efforts to develop integrated missile defences had made huge strides over the past six years." Missile defence programme Cost overruns typical in nearly every US defence programme could easily drive the price higher, said some defence analysts and critics of the missile defence programme. While details of any specific contract awards must still be worked out, the deal will clearly result in additional work for US defence companies at a time when US defence spending is expected to begin to level off. But missile defence critics, including the former top US weapons tester, Philip Coyle, say all that spending has produced scant progress. The missile defence programme has generated "a lot of profits for defence contractors, but no real addition to US security," said John Isaacs, who heads the Washington-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Coyle said the new European missile defence system would do little, if anything, to protect Europe against enemy missile attacks. "It's too easily overcome by an enemy," he said, noting that even US defence officials acknowledged that the system would be able to defend against one or two missiles launched from Iran, not dozens, and that current technologies would not be effective if they faced a swarm of decoy missiles. "It's all a lot of sword-rattling, but, it's a sham," he said. The Polish agreement The United States and Poland signed the agreement on Wednesday, over the strong opposition of Russia. The Czech Republic had previously agreed to participate. The parliaments of both Poland and the Czech Republic must approve the deals. The European system is meant to defend Europe and the United States from a future missile threat from Iran, according to Washington. Riki Ellison, president of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, called the agreement with Poland a 'phenomenal achievement' that reflected the growing threat of ballistic missiles. He said that US efforts to develop integrated missile defences had made huge strides over the past six years. 'Ink still wet' Chicago-based Boeing, prime contractor for the US ground-based missile defence system, will supply the rockets to be placed in Poland, but the Army Corps of Engineers will manage construction of the site, a US official said. "The missile defence system would be able to defend against one or two missiles launched from Iran, not dozens." Boeing had no immediate comment on the potential value of the deal, but said in a statement that it would work closely with the US military and its industry partners to extend missile defence capability to Europe. Waltham, Massachusetts-based Raytheon built the powerful X-band radar now based in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, which will be moved to the Czech Republic. Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin said its system to integrate separate missile defence elements and provide a common view of the 'battlespace', known as command, control, battle management and communications (C2BMC), would play a key role in the European missile defence site. But John Holly, a top Lockheed official and former deputy director of the US Missile Defense Agency, said it was not yet clear about the effect on company revenues, or whether the US-Polish agreement would result in more sales of Lockheed's Patriot advanced capability (PAC-3) missiles. "We just don't know yet. The ink is still wet," Holly told reporters, noting it was not yet clear if the Patriot missile battery would come from existing US stocks. Raytheon, also a prime contractor for the Patriot air and missile defence system, declined comment on any project sales resulting from the Polish agreement.