THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 9, 1995 TAG: 9503090011
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Lt. Gen. Malcolm O'Neill was in Hampton Roads recently to discuss the latest on Star Wars, a name he dislikes intensely. The news is: Star Wars has come down to Earth.
The original conception touted by President Reagan was an impenetrable space shield that would protect America from thermonuclear attack. That grandiose scheme was more hype than hard facts. Today, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization that O'Neill commands is pursuing more limited and pragmatic objectives. A realistic mission is the result.
The enemy envisioned is no longer the Soviet empire, and the threat is no longer a saturation ICBM attack. Now the watchword is Theater Defense, the ability to protect a discrete target - a battlefield, a beachhead, a staging area or a threatened population center - from a limited ballistic-missile assault.
The systems needed to do the job are upgraded Patriots, a missile-seeking version of the Navy's Aegis armaments and a so-called upper-tier system (THAAD) capable of attacking incoming missiles at higher altitudes than Patriot.
O'Neill's budget is $3 billion a year, and two-thirds goes to acquiring hardware and putting these systems into operation no later than 2002. Another $400 million goes to continuing research toward a national defense capability.
The rest of O'Neill's money is used to fund research on a potpourri of advanced concepts. These include planes that could protect battlefields by shooting down ballistic bogeys, a missile defense able to take on low-flying cruise missiles and a system that would allow one ship to track and target an incoming missile and to guide a missile to intercept that is launched from a second ship miles away.
This sort of practical defense may not be as thrilling as the dream of Star Wars, but it has the merit of appearing to be doable. And doing it is prudent. We live in a world where nations possessing ballistic missiles include Libya, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Romania, Bulgaria, North Korea, Vietnam and China. The CIA reports that cruise missiles are also proliferating. The day may be near when hostile regimes or terrorist groups will be able to marry nuclear, chemical or biological warheads to missiles.
A budget of $3 billion a year may seem like a lot in an era of belt-tightening, and Star Wars got such a bad name a decade ago that it may seem a ripe target to some legislators. But O'Neill seems confident his funding is secure. It should be. A workable theater defense could save assets worth far more than it costs to develop, including armies in the field and threatened cities and their civilian populations. by CNB