Trump goes for ‘Star Wars’ II
President Donald Trump yesterday announced the biggest overhaul of US missile defence since Ronald Reagan’s ‘‘Star Wars’’ plan with a pledge to test spacebased weapons to both defend America and attack its enemies.
Trump’s strategy to beef up the interception of enemy missiles included a ‘‘space-based missile defence layer’’ which he said was ‘‘ultimately going to be a very, very big part of our defence and obviously of our offence’’.
Trump’s long-awaited announcement at the Pentagon included ‘‘20 new ground-based interceptors’’ in Alaska to detect and destroy incoming missiles and ‘‘shield every city in the United States’’. Other ideas to be tested included drones capable of shooting down ballistic missiles and adapting F-35 stealth fighters to chase them down.
After Iran’s failed attempt this week to launch a satellite that the US claims was intended as part of an intercontinental missile programme, the new strategy aims to keep the US at the global forefront of missile technology.
The announcement followed a series of reports, including the Pentagon’s own analysis this week, warning that China was advancing rapidly in military capability. This included the development of ‘‘hypersonic’’ missiles able to outpace America’s existing interception methods.
President Vladimir Putin has also unveiled strategic weapons that he claimed could not be intercepted, including a ‘‘hypersonic glide vehicle’’ which can fly
20 times faster than the speed of sound and make sharp turns to avoid detection. Defence experts said that the more ambitious plans outlined by Trump – to research the use of space-based lasers or missiles designed to intercept hostile onslaught – went beyond the defence department’s long-standing plans to use its nuclear arsenal to deter Russian or Chinese attacks.
Trump did not refer directly to President Reagan’s ambitious
1983 Strategic Defence Initiative, labelled ‘‘star wars’’ by critics who warned that the plan for space-based lasers and missiles to shoot down nuclear warheads was unrealistic. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, in part because of its doomed efforts to keep up with US defence spending, the idea fizzled and was discarded by President Bill Clinton in 1994.
Trump’s announcement came on the 27th day of a partial government shutdown as Democrats in Congress continued to oppose his demand for $5.7 billion to build a wall on the southern border.
‘‘We are ordering the finest weapons in the world, that you can be sure of,’’ Trump said. ‘‘Our goal is simple: to detect and destroy any missile launched against the United States anywhere, anytime, any place. The best way to keep America safe is to keep America strong.’’
He added: ‘‘In the past the United States lacked a comprehensive strategy for missile defence that extended beyond ballistic missiles. The US will now adjust its posture to also defend against any missile strikes, including cruise and hypersonic missiles. And we are, by the way, also very advanced in hypersonic technology. We will always be at the forefront of everything.’’
US missile defence weapons are currently based on land and aboard ships. Trump and Mike Pence, the vice-president, have both emphasised space-based capabilities as the next step of missile defence and unveiled the creation of the Space Force as a branch of the armed forces by next year.
The new strategy included a six-month study of whether it is possible to mount missile defence interceptors on satellites. Trump said that ‘‘space is a new warfighting domain’’. He said the 2020 defence budget would invest in developing America’s ability to ‘‘terminate any missile launches from hostile powers, or even from powers that make a mistake. It won’t happen. Regardless of the missile type or geographic origins of the attack’’.
The missile defence strategy was to be announced last year but was postponed several times amid speculation that officials wanted to wait for the outcome of talks between Trump and Kim Jong Un, the North Korean leader.
While Trump claimed on Twitter in June that ‘‘there is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea’’, Pence said this week that ‘‘we still await concrete steps by North Korea to dismantle the nuclear weapons that threaten our people and our allies in the region’’.
Trump also repeated demands for reimbursement from ‘‘very wealthy countries’’ protected by the US military,and accused Germany of paying less than the Nato benchmark on defence.
As he spoke, Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, attempted to clarify comments in which he suggested that Trump’s 2016 campaign could have colluded with Russia. ‘‘I never said there was no collusion between the campaign, or people in the campaign . . . there is not a single bit of evidence the President of the United States committed the only crime you can commit here, conspiring with the Russians,’’ Giuliani said on Thursday.
This followed the release of documents alleging that Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign President Donald Trump
manager, sent polling data to an alleged Russian agent.
Giuliani added: ‘‘I have no knowledge of any collusion by any of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign.’’ –