Missiles

Long gone are the soldiers who kept watch at an Army facility in the Santa Monica Mountains, searching the skies for Soviet planes that might soar in from the Pacific to bomb Los Angeles. Their weather-battered guard shack off a gravelly road in the steep hills behind Encino now has rusted window frames and a hole in one wall. Only the radar tower still stands tall.

JERUSALEM - With three airstrikes against Syria since January, Israel has inserted itself forcefully into the "Arab Spring's" most intractable conflict, heightening fears that Syria's civil war could spiral into a regional conflagration. The bombings of targets near the Syrian capital - including two strikes in a 48-hour period beginning Friday - represent a risk-laden strategy based on the calculation that retaliatory attacks against Israel by Syria or its allies are unlikely. Still the bombings inevitably raised the specter of a broader regional war in the heart of the volatile Middle East.

Your March 22 report, "Deal to Build Two Missile Systems Seen," characterizes funding both MX and Midgetman missiles as a compromise. The Air Force and Congress can't agree which missile is needed. Neither missile can increase national security because land-based missiles are no longer survivable. Building both missiles resolves the controversy in the wrong direction by increasing the budget deficit without increasing national security. A better answer is to build neither missile and to negotiate cuts to nuclear arsenals.

BEIRUT - Huge explosions were reported in Damascus early Sunday, just two days after a reported Israeli airstrike in Syria targeting surface-to-air missiles possibly destined for neighboring Lebanon and the militant group Hezbollah. Syrian state media also blamed Israel for Sunday's predawn onslaught, saying that Israeli jet fighters had launched rockets on the capital. The site targeted was a military research facility in Jamraya, just outside Damascus, state media reported.

What do you need to disrupt nuclear facilities of your enemy? A thumb drive. Well, that and a virulent cyber weapon such as Stuxnet that works so effectively that it takes out nothing but its target in a way that is more subtle than explosive. Stuxnet, a seek-and-disrupt cyber missile enshrouded in mystery and first publicly identified in 2010, has been attributed to U.S. efforts to interfere with and slow Iran's nuclear endeavors, according to the New York Times .  "You're seeing an evolution of warfare that's really intriguing," said Phil Lieberman, a security consultant and chief executive of Lieberman Software in Los Angeles.

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.

BEIRUT - Syria "completely denies" reports that its forces used Scud missiles against rebels fighting to overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad, the official media reported Thursday. The state news service quoted a source in the Foreign Ministry labeling as “untrue rumors” reports of the use of  Scuds, a Soviet-designed surface-to-surface ballistic missile that can carry large payloads but is not especially accurate. “It is well known that Scud missiles are strategic long-range missiles and are not used in facing armed terrorist gangs,” said the state news service, using the official label for anti-government rebels.

More than 50 types of tactical missiles and precision-guided munitions have been deployed on aircraft, ships and ground units in the Persian Gulf War, providing troops with the mainstay of their firepower so far. The missiles can cost up to $1.25 million each, but their high cost accompanies the capability to deliver warheads with pinpoint accuracy from long distances. Although fighter aircraft get greater publicity, it is the missiles that provide their fighting capability.

WASHINGTON -- The Syrian government has fired half a dozen Scud missiles at insurgents in recent days, a U.S. official said Wednesday. The missiles were launched from near Damascus into rebel-held areas of northern Syria, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing intelligence information. Although recent rebel advances have raised fears that Syrian President Bashar Assad might turn to chemical weapons, the official said there was no sign that the missiles carried chemical agents.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was quoted as saying that Russia had suggested deploying missiles in his former Soviet state to counter a proposed U.S. antimissile system in nearby countries. Lukashenko told the Wall Street Journal that even if Moscow did not deploy the Iskander missiles, Belarus would consider buying them for its own use. He also supported a Kremlin proposal to place the missiles in Russia's Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad.

BEIJING -- North Korea celebrated the 101th anniversary of its founder's birth Monday with flowers and dancing instead of missiles, raising hopes that the regime may be climbing down from the furious rhetoric of recent weeks. Even the fire-breathing North Korean news service was unusually subdued, the day passing with nary a threat of thermonuclear war. Kim Jong Un, the 30-year-old leader, was reported to have paid a midnight visit to the mausoleum in Pyongyang where his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, the nation's founder, and father, Kim Jong Il, lie in state, embalmed in the Communist tradition.

WASHINGTON - An impromptu release of a Pentagon intelligence assessment suggesting North Korea could fit a nuclear warhead atop a ballistic missile - only to see the nation's top intelligence official say other U.S. agencies did not necessarily agree - has exposed a stark divide in America's intelligence apparatus on the threat from Pyongyang. The Defense Intelligence Agency, the largest of the 16 U.S. intelligence services in terms of personnel, came under fire Friday, a day after Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.)

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that North Korea has the capability to develop nuclear warheads small enough to fit on a ballistic missile, a congressman disclosed Thursday. Although U.S. experts believe that North Korea cannot hit the U.S. mainland with its missiles, a significant improvement in Pyongyang's weapons technology would be deeply disconcerting for U.S. policymakers. It would also help explain American measures -- including an emphasis on the U.S. ability to respond with nuclear weapons -- after weeks of warlike rhetoric from Pyongyang.

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that North Korea has developed nuclear warheads small enough to fit on a ballistic missile, a congressman disclosed Thursday.  At a House armed services committee hearing focused on the budget, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) read from what he said was an unclassified portion of a classified Defense Intelligence Agency study that states, "DIA assesses with moderate confidence the North currently has nuclear weapons capable of delivery by ballistic missiles.

BEIJING -- North Korea is poised to launch as many as five missiles from its east coast, South Korean intelligence officials said Thursday. But security analysts said they believed the launches would be part of a military exercise and would not pose an immediate threat to the United States, Japan or South Korea. The military exercise apparently would be part of the festivities planned for a national holiday Monday marking the birthday of the country's late founder, Kim Il Sung, grandfather of the current leader.

WASHINGTON - A U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that North Korea has the capability to develop nuclear warheads small enough to fit on a ballistic missile, a congressman disclosed Thursday. Although U.S. experts believe North Korea cannot hit the U.S. mainland with its missiles, a significant improvement in Pyongyang's weapons technology would be deeply disconcerting for U.S. policymakers. It would also help explain American measures - including an emphasis on the U.S. ability to respond with nuclear weapons - after weeks of warlike rhetoric from Pyongyang.

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.

Japan readied its missile defense systems Tuesday against a possible North Korean weapons test, saying it would shoot down any missiles or debris if Japanese territory was threatened. Patriot anti-missile batteries were deployed on the grounds of the Defense Ministry in Tokyo and at military installations in and around the capital, according to Japanese news reports. The PAC-3 batteries will also be based on the island of Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. troops in Japan, sooner than planned in response to North Korea's threats, the Asahi Shimbun reported . Deploying the anti-missile system in Tokyo is “part of our moves to establish a system to protect the lives of our citizens and ensure their safety,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a news conference, according to Jiji Press . Suga earlier said that the missiles will be used solely to protect Japan, according to the Japan Times . Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed for Japan to reinterpret its constitution, which bans waging war, to allow Japan to intercept missiles fired at United States targets.

WASHINGTON - The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific reassured Congress on Tuesday that the U.S. military could intercept any missile launched by North Korea and aimed at America's territory or its East Asian allies. Adm. Samuel Locklear's briefing to senators came amid growing concern that North Korea is about to test a missile - some observers suggest as early as Wednesday - after weeks of bellicose threats. "We have a credible ability to defend the homeland, to defend Hawaii, to defend Guam, to defend our forward deployed forces and to defend our allies," Locklear told the Senate Armed Services Committee.