Two join missile defense program

Australia and India said yesterday they would join the Bush administration in developing a missile defense, adding to a growing coalition of nations willing to fund, research and possibly deploy a shield against rockets fired by terrorists and rogue states.

"It is in Australia's national interest to play a part," Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said.

"... We are working with the Americans at the moment to set up a framework for our involvement. ... We will hopefully have a memorandum of understanding a little later this year," Mr. Hill told reporters in Canungra, Queensland.

Australia has already announced plans to purchase three air warfare class destroyers, which could be integrated into a future missile defense shield.

Mr. Hill said he was impressed with last month's successful firing of a Standard Missile-3 interceptor missile from a U.S. Aegis cruiser that knocked a target out of the sky.

"You know a few years ago very sound scientists were saying you know this is still decades away. And already in trials now we are seeing intercepts in really quite extraordinary circumstances," he said.

In New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced an agreement with the United States this week that would give India access to previously off-limits technology, including nuclear, space-related and other high technologies.

The agreement, which President Bush also announced at the Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico, included a provision to expand dialogue with India on missile defense.

The announcements follow recent decisions by Canada and Japan to participate in U.S. efforts to develop a working missile shield.

The Pentagon yesterday cautioned that no official agreements had been signed, but welcomed the positive statements from Australia and India.

"The past couple of years the United States has been encouraging our allies to participate in missile defense," spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin said.

Analysts said yesterday the international participation will make the U.S. program easier to fund domestically, and give it international credibility.

"There is definitely an effort by the Department of Defense and the National Missile Defense Agency to broaden international interest in the missile defense shield," said Jon Wolfsthal, an arms-control expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"Broadening interest enhances credibility, makes the program more sustainable. ... There are also countries around the world facing a short-range missile threat."

Mr. Wolfsthal said that nations are being told that if they want to be a part of the "coalition of the willing" in the war against terrorism, signing on to missile defense is one way to participate.

Canada's Defense Minister David Pratt said last week that talks regarding Canada's participation in the U.S. missile defense shield were going well.

"Canada and the United States are expected to exchange letters formalizing discussions, which have been under way since May 2002 on Canada's potential involvement on ballistic missile defense," said Lt. Col. Jamie Roberston, military spokesman at the Canadian Embassy.

Japan, which considers North Korean missiles its biggest military threat, has already announced plans to participate.

Japan recently approved a proposal to spend billions of dollars on U.S. interceptor missiles.

Mr. Wolfsthal of Carnegie said India's involvement is of concern, noting the ongoing tension between Pakistan and India and also that India has previously procured and transferred sensitive technology.

"India has misappropriated and misused U.S. technology in the past, and this is the same technology that could be used for long range interceptor missiles. Until we see India acting responsibly, we need to be very careful that we don't provide them with technology that could be used [by a third party] to target U.S. forces in the field," he said.

John Isaacs of the Council for a Livable World, which opposes missile defense efforts, expressed skepticism that Australia and India were fully committed to the U.S. project.

"There is a big difference between saying they are interested and putting down the money. Talk is different than money," he said.

The Bush administration has set a deadline of September to begin deploying a $22 billion system in Alaska and California.

In a report last year, the General Accounting Office said that at least 10 untested technologies were being used to complete the system.