Russia still has no place in these plans.
A pan-European theater missile defense will cost NATO 200 million euros. According to some American media, this was announced in early May by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at his monthly press conference. "This is not such a large sum for real protection from a real threat," the secretary general said and added that the creation of a new theater missile defense system of the North Atlantic Alliance troops could become the subject of cooperation with Russia, which can also take part in its development and implementation.
NATO ANTI-MISSION PLANS
According to the current head, a single missile defense system of the North Atlantic Alliance, which is planned to be created within the next 10 years, will allow to counter real threats to the security of the countries of the bloc and their allies. He announced that this system can combine all the missile defense systems of 28 countries of the bloc, including Germany, Denmark, as well as the equipment of the third echelon of the US missile defense system, which Washington, despite any political statements, still intends to deploy in Eastern Europe.
This year, NATO plans to create a so-called intermediate theater missile defense system, which will have to ensure the protection of troops in a specific area from short- and medium-range missile strikes. True, NATO officials pass over in silence what area it will be.
In the final form, the new joint missile defense system will include various means of intercepting missiles at low and high altitudes, which NATO experts call the anti-missile weapons of the lower and upper echelons. At the same time, NATO member countries provide the command of the unit with airspace tracking systems and missile interceptors at their disposal, and the relevant services of the alliance will ensure the development of a unified command and control system, communications and reconnaissance of the joint missile defense system and will integrate all components of this system into a single whole.
The main structure of NATO, which is entrusted with the responsibility for defining the task of the program for the creation of a missile defense system in theaters, is the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNDV). The direct management of the program for creating a unified missile defense system of the alliance is carried out by the Steering Committee and the Program Bureau, which are located in the NATO Agency for Consultation, Command and Control (ACCU).
Not so long ago, at the complex test site located in AKKU in The Hague, the Program Bureau, together with the SAIK (Systems Design and Integration) group, which is the main NATO contractor in the field of creating a unified missile defense system, developed specifications for the interface of missile defense systems and controls NATO and member countries of the alliance. The tests used missile defense systems and equipment of the United States, the Netherlands and France. The tests confirmed the correctness of the chosen approaches and the need to purchase systems and equipment for the organization of command and control and communication of the missile defense units of NATO countries and the command of the block.
After the Prague Summit of NATO in 2002, in accordance with the decision of the heads of state and government of the North Atlantic Alliance, the development of a military-economic justification for missile defense began. The main purpose of this study was to analyze the options for protecting the Alliance's territory, its armed forces and its population from missile attacks. These developments were carried out by specialists from a multinational European-American expert group in cooperation with the NATO Advisory, Command and Control Agency. Based on the results of the work, a conclusion was made on the technical feasibility of creating a unified NATO missile defense system.
In 2008, at a meeting of NATO representatives in Bucharest, the leadership of the Alliance considered the technical issues of creating a joint missile defense system of the block, as well as the political and military implications of the proposed construction of the third echelon of the US missile defense system in Europe. Allied leaders agreed that the planned deployment of US missile defense in Europe would help protect many Allies, and agreed that the system should be an integral part of any future missile defense architecture of the entire North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
CONCEPTS AND COOKING
NATO's missile defense activities are based on two pillars, the 1999 NATO Strategic Concept and the General Policy Guidelines, which were approved by Alliance leaders at a meeting in Riga in November 2006.
The "NATO Strategic Concept" indicates the need to develop a missile defense system to combat nuclear, biological and chemical threats. In particular, it states that “the improvement of the Alliance's defense structure should continue in terms of the risks and potential threats of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their means of delivery, including through the improvement of the missile defense system. The aim of these activities is to ensure that the operational vulnerability of NATO's armed forces is reduced, while maintaining their flexibility and effectiveness.
The General Policy Guidelines prioritize all aspects of Alliance forces and capabilities, how planning documents are developed, and reconnaissance activities over 10-15 years. This document also provides an overview of the strategic situation during this period, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is seen as one of the main threats to the NATO bloc.
COOPERATION OF RUSSIA AND NATO IN THE AREA OF ABM
Back in April of this year, Anders Rasmussen said that Russia should be given one of the main roles in the project to create a unified missile defense system.
Negotiations between Moscow and Washington on the possibility of creating a joint missile defense system with the participation of Russia began in 2000. In 2003, under the auspices of the NATO-Russia Council, studies began to study the interoperability of the actions of military contingents that ensure the functioning of theater missile defense systems of NATO countries and Russia. In addition, a number of joint command-staff and computer exercises were conducted by Russia and NATO. They were carried out in order to obtain the necessary data to ensure the interoperability of missile defense systems and means in the theater of operations of the RF Armed Forces and NATO countries and to develop mechanisms and procedures for the joint functioning of military units of former adversaries in this area.
After the George W. Bush administration came to power, talks on cooperation in the field of missile defense were interrupted due to the fact that the White House announced the termination of the Soviet-American ABM Treaty signed in 1972.
The decision of the new owner of the White House, elected in 2008, President Barack Obama, to abandon the deployment of the third position area of the US national missile defense system in the European region contributed to a significant reduction in tensions in relations between Moscow and Washington. Negotiations on cooperation in this area were resumed after the new secretary general of the North Atlantic Alliance, Rasmussen, supported the project of creating a joint missile defense system of Russia, the United States and NATO countries in 2009.
At the end of April this year, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that he was ready to support all the bloc's proposals to create a global missile defense system (ABM). However, he noted that all proposals should be strictly specific.
As the president said, “if this is a serious proposal,” then Russia can respond positively to all aspects of cooperation in the field of missile defense. “We have long advocated that the global defense system, the missile defense system protect not only one country or a group of countries, but that it be in the interests of all responsible members of the world community,” Medvedev said in one of his interviews.
However, as noted by Russian military experts, the creation of a unified theater missile defense system for Russia and NATO is an extremely difficult and costly task. They believe that Russia will gain nothing from this. It has its own missile defense systems and assets, which continue to protect the country's territory in all sectors of view and directions of a probable missile strike. One of the experts in the field of missile defense explained to the NVO observer that “NATO has not yet made Russia any concrete proposals on this matter. There are only the most general conversations, which are of a purely political nature. They are trying to convince Russia that NATO missile defense systems are not directed against it, but imply a fight against such adversaries as Iran, North Korea and some other hypothetical potential owners of nuclear missiles that could strike Europe. At his last press conference, NATO Secretary General, in response to a question from one of the journalists, said that the alliance has not yet specifically and in detail discussed the issue of Russia's participation in theater missile defense and is only going to do it in the coming months within the framework of the Russia-NATO Council.
But Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in his interview with the Danish broadcasting company, absolutely unequivocally stated that all NATO proposals in the field of missile defense should be serious and be specific. At the same time, the Russian president quite reasonably warned Brussels and the White House that pushing our country out of the development of missile defense, as he put it, "into the backyard" has no prospects.
In the near future, as Rasmussen announced at his last press conference, condemnation of a new draft "NATO Strategic Concept" will begin, the text of which, as announced by officials in Brussels, will be available to the world community. Then it will be clear what place the leaders of the bloc have assigned to Russia in their plans.
