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By Resham Bhattarai

In the mass consciousness, the ABM system is usually associated with countering the nuclear threat posed by ballistic missiles with a nuclear warhead, but this is not entirely true. In fact, the anti-missile defence is a broader concept, and missile defence is any type of defence against enemy missile weapons.

As a rule, the areas where strategic missiles are deployed are located deep in the enemy’s territory and are reliably covered by air and missile defence systems. Therefore, it is almost impossible to approach them at the necessary distance.

In 1946, the US air force began developing the first missile DEFENSE system, which included two types of anti-missile systems: the MX-794 Wizard and the MX-795 Thumper.

This programme was never implemented, but it allowed the Americans to gain significant practical experience in creating anti-missile systems. This project had no practical purpose, since at that time there were no Intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the US territory was not threatened.

Currently, several missile defence systems are deployed or being developed in the world (Israel, India, Japan, the European Union), but all of them have a small or medium range.

A new stage in the development of the missile defence system began on July 23, 1999, when US President Bill Clinton signed the bill on the creation of a national missile defence system, under which it was planned to protect not a limited area, as prescribed by the anti-missile defence treaty, but the entire territory of the North American States. The official reason for the creation of the NPRO was the proliferation of missile weapons from “rogue countries”. The Americans, in turn, argued that global missile defence is not directed against Russia or other countries, its purpose is to protect the “civilized” world from rogue countries such as Iran and North Korea. At the same time, the construction of new elements of the system continues at the very Russian borders – in Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania.

On January 17, 2019, US President Donald Trump released an analytical report on the national missile defence (Missile Defense Review) at the Pentagon. The document includes a new US strategy in space, which is called defence and provides for the expansion of the MISSILE defence Arsenal. In particular, the strategy proposes to place a new generation of early-warning satellites in space for a missile attack. According to the document, the most serious threat to the United States is North Korea, Iran, Russia and China. This may be an incomplete list of countries. The report says that the US will not limit itself in developing missile defence against countries that do not recognize international norms.

Russian military and diplomats have repeatedly stated that the deployment of the US global missile DEFENSE system will lead to a violation of the delicate balance between nuclear states, which was formed during the Cold war.

So, the facade drops away. Now it is no longer said that the American missile DEFENSE system is aimed only against Iran or North Korea. Now Russia and China are clearly indicated as targets, and even the most stubborn liberals will not be able to deny this. No, you can’t find fault with it formally, they said that the missile DEFENSE against “rogue countries”, so no one violated the words, just Russia and China were considered” outcasts”.

For overly optimistic “cheers-patriots” who believe that the US missile DEFENSE against Russia is useless, we can quote the words of the first deputy chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General staff of the Russian armed forces, Lieutenant-General Viktor Poznikhir, delivered on April 24, 2019, at the VIII Moscow conference on international security.

Anti-missile defence systems (ABM) near the borders of Russia are placed by the United States to obtain the possibility of a nuclear strike on the Russian Federation. The General explained that the United States is trying to build a missile DEFENSE system in which Russia will not be able to launch a retaliatory nuclear strike against the United States. The General noted that American destroyers equipped with the Aegis system are already on combat duty in the Japanese and South China seas and regularly appear in the Baltic and Black seas. Also, Poznikhir said that Washington plans to develop space-based MISSILE defence systems that can intercept Russian ballistic missiles in the early stages of flight, as well as carry out pre-emptive strikes on the territory of Russia. “The Americans intend to achieve strategic superiority by implementing the so-called pre-launch interception,” the representative of the General staff summed up his analysis.

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