Missiles

A 5-pound missile the size of a loaf of French bread is being quietly tested in the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles as the military searches for more deadly and far more precise robotic weapons for modern warfare. In the next month or so, researchers at the Naval Air Warfare Center at China Lake expect to test a 2-foot-long Spike missile that is about a "quarter of the size of the next smallest on the planet," said Steve Felix, the missile project's manager.

The American Rocket Co.'s effort to launch its first commercial rocket into space never got off the ground Thursday. Instead, at the 10:28 a.m. scheduled liftoff time, the engine ignited but flames snaked up the unmanned, 58-foot-tall rocket. A minute later the rocket tumbled over on its side, puncturing its liquid oxygen fuel tanks, and as the fire continued, a billowing trail of black smoke rose into the sky. There were no injuries in the explosion.

For 18 years, the Convair division of General Dynamics Corp. here has endured one calamity after another--from congressional criticism to machinists' strikes, disastrous early test firings to reprimands for faulty security procedures--in developing the Tomahawk cruise missile. On Thursday, the apparently successful firing of 100 or more Tomahawks from U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf War gave General Dynamics employees a somber sort of satisfaction.

The U.S. military, strained by continuing operations against Iraq as well as NATO's bombing campaign in Yugoslavia, is running low on some of the very weapons it needs to fight the wars of its choice. The nation's stockpile of cruise missiles--the most versatile of the current generation of "smart" weapons--is being depleted by the unexpectedly large number of attacks--and at a time when there are no production lines in operation.

The U.S. and Russia may be able to find common ground on the key issues of missile defense and nuclear arms reductions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday. Lavrov and Clinton spoke positively, if cautiously, after meeting in Geneva in an effort to ease tensions between the countries. "We did not agree on everything, of course, but we agreed to work on every issue," Lavrov said.

Colombia and the United States have a recurring worry: This country's largest rebel group succeeds in acquiring surface-to-air missiles and forces the government to alter a strategy that has knocked the insurgents on their heels and turned the tide in a decades-long conflict. There are reasons for concern. Last month, a Syrian arms trafficker was arrested in Honduras as he tried to sell missiles and other weapons to U.S. undercover agents posing as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

In the first major aerospace industry realignment to cope with a dwindling defense market, Hughes Aircraft agreed Monday to acquire the missile operations of General Dynamics for $450 million. Hughes, a unit of General Motors, agreed to issue 21.5 million shares of GM H-class stock, valued at a minimum of $450 million, to General Dynamics for its California-based missile operations.

It hardly seems to matter anymore that Poles had long been leery of playing host to U.S. missile interceptors aimed at defending against long-range threats from Iran. Washington's decision to back out of the missile shield agreement forged by the Bush administration -- and opposed by Russia -- has evoked memories among Poles of Cold War helplessness, of being brushed aside as casualties of great power politics. In Poland and among other members of the old Soviet bloc, the U.S. announcement played into a historical sense of uncertainty.

Days before Iran was to meet with the U.S. and other world powers over its disputed nuclear program, the nation test fired medium-range missiles today capable of reaching Israel, Europe and American bases in the Persian Gulf, according to the country's Revolutionary Guard. The missiles -- Shahab-3 and Sajjil -- were launched in the desert as part of military exercises that began before the U.S., France and Britain accused Tehran over the weekend of building a secret uranium-enrichment plant in the mountains.

For over three decades, cattle ranchers near this high desert hamlet have evacuated their homes whenever rocket testing was under way at White Sands Missile Range. Few groused about the daylong dislocations because the Army paid up to tens of thousands of dollars annually for the disruption and anxiety of abandoning homes and livestock while experimental weapons slammed down onto the missile range a few miles away.

Nearly two months after the seizure here of a charter plane carrying 35 tons of weapons shipped from North Korea, the mystery remains as to where the rockets and other armaments were headed. Iran, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates were reportedly listed on the flight plan; the former Soviet republic of Georgia was cited as the charter company's operations base; and the captain has said that Kiev, Ukraine, was the destination. This week, Iran denied that it was the intended recipient, according to wire reports, arguing that it had no need for the weaponry because it has its own arms industry, which makes rockets, tanks, jet fighters, light submarines and missiles.

Re "How a few F-16s can buy peace in the Taiwan Strait," Opinion, Nov. 11 In recommending that the United States leverage not selling F-16 jets to Taiwan for better U.S.-China-Taiwan relations, professor Dennis V. Hickey overlooks three key points. First, the U.S. has formally assured Taipei that Washington will not hold prior consultations with Beijing regarding arms sales to Taiwan. Second, although it would be a significant and welcome gesture if China pulled back missiles aimed at Taiwan, Beijing could easily redeploy those missiles whenever it wanted.

"Fail-Safe": An article on Cold War films in Monday's Calendar section said that in the movie "Fail-Safe" missiles were headed for Moscow. In the film, bombs were headed for Moscow.

North Korea test-launched five short-range missiles Monday, reports said, in what analysts said was an attempt to improve its bargaining position ahead of possible talks with the United States. North Korea has recently reached out to the U.S. and South Korea following months of tension over its nuclear and missile tests this year. Leader Kim Jong Il told visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last week that his government might return to stalled six-nation negotiations on its nuclear program depending on the outcome of direct talks it seeks with the United States.

Days before Iran was to meet with the U.S. and other world powers over its disputed nuclear program, the nation test fired medium-range missiles today capable of reaching Israel, Europe and American bases in the Persian Gulf, according to the country's Revolutionary Guard. The missiles -- Shahab-3 and Sajjil -- were launched in the desert as part of military exercises that began before the U.S., France and Britain accused Tehran over the weekend of building a secret uranium-enrichment plant in the mountains.

It hardly seems to matter anymore that Poles had long been leery of playing host to U.S. missile interceptors aimed at defending against long-range threats from Iran. Washington's decision to back out of the missile shield agreement forged by the Bush administration -- and opposed by Russia -- has evoked memories among Poles of Cold War helplessness, of being brushed aside as casualties of great power politics. In Poland and among other members of the old Soviet bloc, the U.S. announcement played into a historical sense of uncertainty.

Colombia and the United States have a recurring worry: This country's largest rebel group succeeds in acquiring surface-to-air missiles and forces the government to alter a strategy that has knocked the insurgents on their heels and turned the tide in a decades-long conflict. There are reasons for concern. Last month, a Syrian arms trafficker was arrested in Honduras as he tried to sell missiles and other weapons to U.S. undercover agents posing as members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

A 5-pound missile the size of a loaf of French bread is being quietly tested in the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles as the military searches for more deadly and far more precise robotic weapons for modern warfare. In the next month or so, researchers at the Naval Air Warfare Center at China Lake expect to test a 2-foot-long Spike missile that is about a "quarter of the size of the next smallest on the planet," said Steve Felix, the missile project's manager.

The U.S. and Russia may be able to find common ground on the key issues of missile defense and nuclear arms reductions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday. Lavrov and Clinton spoke positively, if cautiously, after meeting in Geneva in an effort to ease tensions between the countries. "We did not agree on everything, of course, but we agreed to work on every issue," Lavrov said.

After suggesting that the female tennis players should have boycotted the tournament once Dubai refused entry to Israel's Shahar Peer, Kurt Streeter [Feb. 22] went on to write: "Mind you, I'm no fan of Israel's heavy-handed hammering of Gaza. But in almost all cases, I think ordinary citizens such as Peer shouldn't have to pay for the misguided hubris of their nation's leaders." Not even a suggestion that if Gaza hadn't spent the past several years firing thousands of missiles at civilians in Israel, Israel would have had no reason to retaliate against Hamas.