US missile shield partly scrapped: role of Australia’s Pine Gap not clear
US to scrap part of missile shield
BRENDAN NICHOLSON, CANBERRA
September 18, 2009
THE US has abandoned key parts of its planned global anti-ballistic missile system, apparently to avoid offending Russia.
The Wall Street Journal said that the Poland and Czech Republic sections of the system would be shelved after a review ordered by US President Barack Obama.
It is not yet clear what that means for plans for the Asian sections of the system and joint experimental work being carried out by Australia, Japan and the US. That work is intended to thwart North Korea’s plans to develop nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
In September 2007, then defence minister Brendan Nelson told Parliament the joint Australian-US facility at Pine Gap provided information on ballistic missile launches of interest to Australia and could be used in any US missile defence system.
”As such, this would be a continuation of a ballistic missile early-warning partnership that we have shared with the United States for over 30 years,” Dr Nelson said.
At the time Ron Huisken, a senior fellow from the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, warned that Australia’s collaboration on missile defence with Japan and the US could agitate the Chinese as well as the Russians.
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