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Counter Measures
Counter Measures Counter Measures: National Missile Defense (NMD) is once again a growing concern in America. There have been many new developments since the post-Cold War elimination of nuclear warfare. This diminishing of arms however, is a very fine line. The United States cannot afford to have less capability then the rest of the world, but it does want to encourage unilateral non-proliferation of nuclear arms. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- * © Copyright DueNow.com Inc. * [Category]: social issue [Paper Title]: Counter Measures [Text]: National Missile Defense (NMD) is once again a growing concern in America. There have been many new developments since the post-Cold War elimination of nuclear warfare. This diminishing of arms however, is a very fine line. The United States cannot afford to have less capability then the rest of the world, but it does want to encourage unilateral non-proliferation of nuclear arms. In addition, there is a new awareness of “rogue” nations that are completely unpredictable. Since the post-Cold War the United States has been able to rely on the major nations and more or less predict if they are a threatening adversary or not. In any case, this doubt has caused the new investigation of a possible deployment of a National Missile Defense. This movement is a huge strategic, technical, and political decision. The consequences of such a decision will indeed effect the next generations. In the recent decades many treaties have come to rise, all of which have played an important part in the growing concern of nuclear arms and the defense of American soil. History The history of ballistic missile defense is much involved and began shortly after World War II. In the 1950’s the Soviet Union was able to deploy submarine-based missiles capable of hitting the United States. In the 1960’s this same arsenal appeared and expanded rapidly to land based systems. These moves by the Soviet Union spurred a huge need for ballistic missile defense programs in the U.S. In 1972 President Nixon and General Secretary Brezhnev signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. This forbids a nationwide missile defense between the United States and Russia. The treaty called for each country to build two sites that could attempt to protect limited areas. In 1974, it was amended allowing for: · Each may only have on missile defense deployment site with that site prohibited from providing a nationwide missile defense system or becoming the basis for developing one · At the allowed site, no more than 100 launchers/missiles may be deployed and guidance radars must be within a circle with a diameter of 150 kilometers · New early warning radars may only be deployed on the periphery of national territory and oriented outward · Non-nationwide missile defense systems may not be given nationwide capability or tested in a nationwide mode · The transfer of missile defense components to and deployment in foreign countries is prohibited · Development, testing, or deployment of sea-based, air-based, mobile land-based, or space-based missile defense systems and their components is prohibited During the Cold War, this treaty proved effective because both nations understood that a building of missile defense encourages offensive force. As long as the capability of defending oneself against nuclear attack was preserved, each would be deterred from attacking the other. Limited national defense programs such as President Johnson’s “Sentinel” system followed the previous Presidential systems of the “Nike X” and “Nike Zeus” programs. All of these were redesigned by Nixon’s “Safeguard” initiative. On October 1, 1975, the Safeguard System using interceptors with nuclear warhead tips were deployed. However in January of the following year, the House of Representatives and the Senate voted to close it down because the nuclear-tipped interceptors would blind Safeguard’s own radar systems for navigation. These systems repeatedly failed to develop a missile defense that could cope with long-ran... This is ONLY a preview of the article. If you would like to view the entire document, you must subscribe to Academic Library. Please register below now!
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