Fórum Defesa Brasil

Como falamos outro dia, os EUA estavam pensando em colocar destróieres equipados com Aegis para ajudar a proteger o Japão e mesmo os próprios EUA contra a ameaça dos mísseis balísticos da Coréia do Norte.

Pois bem, a coisa já está operacional. Para quem não tem muita familiaridade, lembro que DPRK = Coréia do Norte (República "Democrática" "Popular" da Coréia).

As aspas são por minha conta

October 01, 2004

Destroyer patrol is first step in defense against missile attacks

By Eric Talmadge - Associated Press


TOKYO — Amid heightened concerns of a North Korean missile test, a U.S. destroyer has started patrolling the Sea of Japan in what officials say is a first step toward creating a shield to protect the United States and its allies from a foreign missile attack.
Navy officials confirmed that the Curtis Wilbur, one of three ships in the U.S. 7th Fleet tasked with the patrols, left its base just south of Tokyo earlier this week.

They refused to comment on details of the destroyer’s mission for security reasons. But Navy Secretary Gordon England said in March that the patrols would begin Oct. 1, and fleet officials confirmed that there has been no change in the schedule.

The other two destroyers assigned to the mission remain in port at Yokosuka Naval Base, the fleet’s home.

The patrols are an initial step toward fulfilling a promise President Bush made two years ago to erect a ballistic missile shield that would protect the United States, its allies and its troops abroad from attack.

Bush cleared the way for the system by withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which banned ship-based missile defenses. He’s called the plan one of his administration’s top priorities.

Critics, however, say such a shield would be too complex to be effective. It’s estimated to cost $51 billion over the next five years.

Starting the program in the Pacific underscores Washington’s increasing concern over North Korea’s suspected development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles capable of reaching Alaska or perhaps even western mainland states.

All of Japan is already within reach of the North’s missiles, as are the more than 50,000 U.S. troops deployed here, including the 20,000-strong 7th Fleet, the Navy’s largest and the only one with a home port outside of the United States.

North Korea’s state-run media was quick to denounce the deployment.

“The U.S. should clearly understand that a preemptive attack is not its monopoly,” North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun said in a commentary Friday, adding that the deployment of the destroyer “proves that the U.S. attempt to invade the DPRK has reached a serious phase of implementation.”

DPRK is an abbreviation of North Korea’s official name.

The North shocked Japan in 1998 by launching a multistage “Taepodong” ballistic missile over Japan’s main island. Pyongyang agreed in 2002 to a moratorium on further long-range tests, but reports of increased activity at North Korean missile sites last week led to fears that it may soon carry out a missile test.

Under the U.S. plan, the 7th Fleet destroyers will carry out long-range searches and tracking of missile activity.

Eventually, data gleaned by the ships would be transmitted to Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., where, if necessary, interceptor missiles would be launched. The interceptors won’t be fully deployed at the American bases until next year.

Senior Navy officials have said the United States intends to maintain a virtually continuous presence in the Sea of Japan, which separates Japan from the Korean Peninsula, China and Russia.

The three destroyers in the 7th Fleet assigned to carry out the patrols are the Fitzgerald, the Curtis Wilbur and the John S. McCain.

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1- ... 382918.php

Navy plans missile defense off North Korea
Associated Press

ABOARD THE USS CORONADO (AP) - In the first step toward erecting a multi-billion-dollar shield to protect the United States from foreign missiles, the U.S. Navy will begin deploying state-of-the-art destroyers to patrol the waters off North Korea as early as next week.

The mission, to be conducted in the Sea of Japan by ships assigned to the Navy's 7th fleet, will help lay the foundation for a system to detect and intercept ballistic missiles launched by "rogue nations."

Washington hopes to complete the network over the next several years.

"We are on track," Vice Admiral Jonathan Greenert, commander of the 7th Fleet, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday aboard the USS Coronado, which is based just south of Tokyo. "We will be ready to conduct the mission when assigned."

Greenert said the role of the 7th Fleet destroyers will be to provide long-range search and tracking of missile activity. Eventually, data gleaned by the ships would be transmitted to Fort Greely in Alaska and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where, if necessary, interceptor missiles would be launched.

But for now, tracking and monitoring are as far as the mission can go. The interceptors won't be fully deployed at the American bases until next year.

The deployment will be the first in a controversial program that is high on President Bush's defense agenda. Bush cleared the way to build the system two years ago by withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which banned ship-based missile defenses.

Bush said protecting America from ballistic missiles was "my highest priority as commander in chief, and the highest priority of my administration."

The project - likened to hitting a bullet with a bullet, only at three times the speed - is exceedingly complex, prompting many critics to argue that it will never be reliable or effective. It is also expensive, with an estimated price tag of US$51 billion over the next five years.

Even so, the missile threat is hard to deny.

More than 30 nations have ballistic missiles, according to the U.S. Defense Department's Missile Defense Agency. Though exact times depend on where the launch occurs, missiles could in less than 30 minutes reach virtually anywhere within the United States.

Greenert refused to give a specific date for the first deployment from the 7th Fleet, but said a deadline of Oct. 1 - next Friday - announced by Navy Secretary Gordon England in March has not changed.

Greenert, who assumed command of the Navy's largest fleet last month, also refused to name a target for the Sea of Japan patrols.

"I can't specify adversaries, but you're looking at rogue nations," he said in his first interview since taking the fleet command. "Take it from there."

The country best fitting that description in East Asia is communist wildcard North Korea, which has missiles capable of reaching the American West Coast and is believed to either already possess or be well on its way toward successfully developing nuclear weapons.

The North shocked Japan in 1998 by launching a multistage "Taepodong" ballistic missile over Japan's main island. Tokyo responded by beefing up its own surveillance capabilities and launching its first spy satellites in March 2003.

Though Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi won a promise in 2002 from the North for a moratorium on further long-range tests, distrust runs deep.

This week, Japanese naval ships were dispatched to the waters off North Korea amid reports that Pyongyang was preparing to test launch a "Nodong" missile, which can reach much of Japan - and the more than 50,000 U.S. troops stationed there - in just minutes.

North Korea is believed to have at least 100 of the missiles.

Because of the North Korean threat, Japan has become the first country to agree to work with Washington on the missile defense project. It is upgrading its own destroyers and acquiring better U.S.-made interceptors - the ship-launched Standard Missile-3 and the ground-based Patriot Advanced Capability-3.

"The Japanese are very interested in developing a missile defense," Greenert said.

Stardard Missile-3 (SM-3)
Japão vai gastar até US$1,2 bilhão em mísseis de nova geração
Por Teruaki Ueno
TÓQUIO (Reuters) - O Japão planeja gastar até 1,2 bilhão de dólares em um ambicioso projeto de mísseis de defesa de nova geração desenvolvido em parceria com os Estados Unidos, afirmaram autoridades do Ministério da Defesa japonês nesta quinta-feira.
O desenvolvimento da nova versão do Stardard Missile-3 (SM-3) vai custar entre 2,1 bilhões e 2,7 bilhões de dólares em nove anos, dos quais entre 1,0 bilhão e 1,2 bilhão de dólares serão pagos pelo Japão.
Segundo as autoridades, o míssil deve entrar em produção por volta de 2016 e será instalado em destróieres norte-americanos e japoneses equipados com o sistema de combate Aegis.
Os Estados Unidos devem gastar até 1,5 bilhão de dólares no projeto. Mas, segundo as autoridades, ainda é necessário fechar um acordo sobre os detalhes, incluindo o financiamento.
O Japão e os EUA começaram a pesquisa para desenvolver uma nova geração de mísseis de defesa pouco depois que a Coréia do Norte testou um míssil sobre o Japão em 1998.
Tóquio já gastou cerca de 26 bilhões de ienes (221,2 milhões de dólares) em pesquisas para o sistema, e o Ministério da Defesa planeja reservar 3 bilhões de ienes para o projeto no ano que vem.
O governo japonês diminuiu as restrição à exportação de armas no ano passado para abrir caminho ao desenvolvimento conjunto do projeto.
Especialistas afirmam que um míssil norte-coreano chegaria ao Japão 10 minutos após seus lançamento.

Colocar os 3 navios (presumo que Arleigh Burke) no Japão é apenas uma forma de pressionar o Governo de Tóquio pra a renegociação em curso para permanencia dos EUA nas bases navais japonesas, já que 3 navios com AEGIS, a juntar ao Kongo japoneses não fariam muito a uma duvidosa "cuhva" de mísseis norte-coreanos.

Até porque os EUA saberão melhor que nós que a Coreia do Note não tem mísseis suficientes para causar propriamente uma "Chuva".

E para defender um território de uns poucos mísseis balísticos com tecnologias dos anos 80, bastam umas baterias de Patriot, baseadas em terra.

O que não invalida que com o Lauro postou acima, que não se venha a desenvolver com o passar dos anos, um sistema de defesa anti-míssil balístico, ou mesmo de cruzeiro baseado nas tecnologias AEGIS e assentes em plataformas navais.