After having been extensively discussed in NATO during the Bush-Administration, missile defense seems to have disappeared from the Alliance’s current security agenda. Instead, there is a public perception that President Obama has deeply cut America’s plans to build up a defense shield against ballistic missiles and has almost put an end to the plans of his predecessor.
The opposite is true: the Obama administration has changed the technical and conceptual parameters of the system but is still fully committed to defend American and Allied territory against missiles as delivery means for weapons of mass destruction. Thus, missile defense has never disappeared from NATO’s agenda, even though it may not currently be in the headlines or on top of the NATO-Russian relationship agenda. In fact, it is highly likely that missile defense will be one of the major stumbling blocs to a NATO consensus on a new Strategic Concept to be found by November of this year.
A new Research Paper by the NATO Defense College analyzes the key issues of Washington’s and NATO’s missile defense plans. What is new under the Obama administration? How will Europe be affected? Which questions will NATO have to discuss? The key conclusions of the paper are:
- NATO members should recognize missile defense of NATO territory and population as an essential mission of the Alliance.
- To this end Allies should expand NATO’s current missile defense program to provide the command and control backbone of a system to defend the European continent.
- Moreover, European NATO members should establish pooled funding for the procurement of a limited number of SM-3 interceptors to be assigned to NATO vessels.
- Finally, The Alliance should regularly monitor the development of the missile threat and missile defense technology, in order to constantly adapt its defense systems accordingly.
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