U.S. gets missile-defense partner

The Bush administration gained another partner in its drive to build a global nuclear-defense shield as U.S. and Australian officials signed a 25-year deal to cooperate on the research and deployment of such a system.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill signed the memorandum of understanding at the Department of State, with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer looking on.

The accord makes Australia a “participating country” in the U.S. missile-defense program and foresees joint development and testing programs.

Mr. Hill said yesterday that Australian defense researchers successfully had tested the sophisticated Jindalee over-the-horizon radar system in April, and U.S. military planners say the system eventually could outperform satellites in the early detection of ballistic missiles after launch.

The Australian defense minister said in a joint press conference that his country does not see any immediate ballistic-missile threats to its security, but that working with the U.S. system could pay off in the long run.

“For us, it a long-term investment. We believe that we have a responsibility to address not only the threats of today, but the threats we might face in the future,” he said.

U.S. critics say the ballistic-missile shield is expensive and unproven, but the Bush administration has been able to preserve funding for the program in Congress while aggressively trying to enlist international partners for the system.

The Knight-Ridder news service reported last month that U.S. officials were sounding out Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic for a missile-defense station in Eastern Europe designed to counter potential missile attacks from the Middle East.

The missile-shield agreement has become a political issue in Australia, where the opposition Labor Party has argued that signing onto the U.S. network would not make the country safer. Labor party leaders say they will seek to renegotiate or cancel the accord if they win elections that are widely expected this fall.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard dispatched troops to the Iraq war and has been one of Mr. Bush’s strongest allies in the war on terrorism.

Mr. Downer said Australia was determined to “stay the course” in aiding Iraq’s reconstruction, particularly with a newly sovereign Iraqi government now in place.

“This is not a time for a country like Australia to cut and run,” he said.