Future deployments GREECEGREECEALBANIA

© 2012 MCT

Current deployments

Setting up the missile defense shieldThe U.S. is establishing its Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system in Europe in four phases collectively called the European Phased Adaptive Approach.

USS MontereyUSS Monterey is one of five ships planned to be deployed to these areas in Phase 1• Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense cruiser, armed with Standard Missile-3 Block IA interceptor missiles• Deployed to Europe on March 7, 2011

Army Navy/Transportable Radar Surveillance system• Radar located at military base in Turkey about 435 mi. (700 km) west of the Iranian border• Operational since late December 2011

NATO ballistic missile defense headquarters• Located in Ramstein, Germany• Passed first significant operational test in early April 2012• Serves as link among NATO assets

Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities

Iran reportedly bought an IRBM from North Korea, and it could have firing capability as early as 2013;an IRBM would be capable of reaching London

None

ScudRange: About 300 mi. (483 km)

Shahab-3Range: About 800 mi. (1,287 km)Capable of reaching Tel Aviv, Israel

Ashoura (in development)Range: About 1,250 mi. (2,012 km)Capable of reaching Bucharest, Romania

Short-range ballistic missiles

Midrange ballistic missiles

Intermediate-range ballistic missiles

Intercontinental ballistic missiles

SPAIN

FRANCE

GERMANY

NETHERLANDS

DENMARK

LUXEMBOURG

PORTUGAL

ITALY

UNITEDKINGDOM

NORWAY

RUSSIA

RUSSIA

FINLANDSWEDEN

IRANIRAQ

SYRIA

SAUDIARABIA

EGYPTLIBYAALGERIA

POLAND

LATVIA

ROMANIA

UKRAINE

BELARUS

KAZAKHSTAN

TURKMENISTAN

BULGARIA

HUNGARY

CZECHREP.

CROATIACROATIASLOVENIASLOVENIA

BELGIUMBELGIUM

ESTONIAESTONIA

LITHUANIALITHUANIA

TURKEY

SLOVAKIASLOVAKIA

MediterraneanSea

BlackSea

BalticSeaNorth

Sea

CaspianSea

NATO member nationsOther countries

PHASE 1: 2011-2015

PHASE 2: 2015-2018 PHASE 3: 2018-2020 PHASE 4: 2020+

Four U.S. Aegis destroyersProposed location of Phase 1 missile defense ship stations• Will be based in southern Spain, and will rotate deployments in the Mediterranean• Two destroyers scheduled to arrive in 2014, and the other two in 2015

RomaniaOnshore Aegis missile defensen 24 SM-3 interceptor missiles (Block IB) will be based at a former air base in southern Romania

Proposed location of Phase 2 missile defense ship deployments

Proposed location of Phase 3 missile defense ship deployments

PolandOnshore Aegis missile defensen 24 SM-3 interceptor missiles (Block IIA) will be based in northern Poland

Proposed location of Phase 4 missile defense ship deployments

1

2

3

4

How the missile defense shield would workNATO’s ballistic missile defense plan involves a coordinated system of satellites, radar and guided missiles that track and destroy incoming threats.

Early warning satellites equipped with infrared sensors provide initial detection and cue downstream radar sites to the missile’s position and velocity

Ground-, air- and sea-based radar sites track the missile before launching an interceptor missile, likely an SM-3

Interceptor is launched from an Aegis warship (or an onshore location once missiles are placed in Romania and Poland)

SM-3 warhead strikes enemy ballistic missile in the midcourse phase, destroying it

Second stage

Third stage

NOTE:Diagram not toscale

Lightweightcompositenose cone

Kinetic warhead

Steering control

Rocket motor

Booster

Third

sta

geSe

cond

sta

ge

Block IA Phase 1 (current) $9.6 millionEngage short- and midrange missiles midcourse

Block IB Phase 2 (2015) $9.4 millionImproved seeker and optics

Block IIA Phase 3 (2018) $15.7 millionIncreased velocity to engage intermediate-rangemissiles, limited capability against ICBMs

Block IIB Phase 4 (2020) $15 millionIncreased velocity for improved capabilityagainst ICBMs

Deployment EstimatedGeneration phase cost

Standard Missile 3 (SM-3)The SM-3 is the U.S. Navy’s primary surface-to-air missile defense weapon; missile uses a kinetic warhead that carries no explosive, relying purely on the kinetic energy released in a high-speed collision; improved generations of SM-3s are scheduled to be rolled out in different phases of the missile defense plan

Though U.S. and NATO officials say the proposed missile shield is designed to protect against attacks from Iran, Russian officials fear that it actually is aimed at undermining their country’s military capabilities.Two years ago, Russia and the U.S. agreed to scale back their nuclear arsenals significantly as

part of the New START treaty. But the missile shield plans call for 500 or more SM-3 interceptor missiles to be deployed on ships and two land sites in Europe by 2018. Some of those are likely to be higher-speed versions of the SM-3, capable of taking out Russian warheads launched at the United States.

From Russia’s perspective, this would theoretically upset the parity in nuclear deployments outlined in the New START treaty. Last year, Moscow threatened to withdraw from New START and to deploy missiles aimed at U.S. defense installations in Europe. This spring, Russian Chief of General Staff Nikolai Makarov

said his country might consider a pre-emptive strike on the missile defense system.Analysts interpreted the statement as an attempt to build political pressure leading up to the NATO summit and said the chances of an actual strike were slim. Still, few predict Russia and the U.S. will resolve their differences soon.

Source: NATO, U.S. Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency, U.S. Navy, George N. Lewis, physicist at Cornell University,Federation of American Scientists, GlobalSecurity.org, Raytheon,

NOTE: This page was reported by students from the National SecurityJournalism Initiative at Northwestern University’s Medill School

Graphic: Chad Yoder, Phil Geib, Kyle D. Clapham, Chicago Tribune

Why is Russia against the missile shield?