Australia May Buy American Missiles

Australia May Buy American Missiles
Tue Jan 13, 7:41 AM ET

By JAMIE TARABAY, Associated Press Writer

SYDNEY, Australia - Australia might buy U.S. missiles as part of the Bush administration's planned defense shield, the defense minister said Tuesday while acknowledging the plan could fuel a regional arms race.

   

The government announced in December that it would join the American plan to build a missile defense system, calling the threat of ballistic missiles too grave to ignore.


Details of that involvement were being hammered out with U.S. defense officials visiting Australia — one of Washington's staunchest allies — this week to negotiate a memorandum of understanding.


Defense Minister Robert Hill on Tuesday offered the first hint about the contents of the agreement being discussed, saying the government might incorporate the missile defense systems on three air warfare destroyers planned for the Australian navy.


Hill previously had said his country likely would help research the multibillion-dollar defense project and had no plans for a ground-based missile defense system on its own soil.


Hill said he was impressed by last month's successful firing of a Standard Missile-3 interceptor missile from a Navy Aegis cruiser that knocked a target rocket out of the sky over the Pacific.


"It's got the capability to basically meet and intercept missiles outside of the atmosphere," Hill told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.


Hill did not give more details about the missiles being considered and a spokeswoman declined to comment while discussions with the American representatives were ongoing.


Washington hopes that developing a shield against ballistic missiles will protect it against potential threats from countries like North Korea (news - web sites). It wants allies like Britain, Canada and Australia involved in the project, particularly to use satellite tracking stations in those countries.


Critics says the technology for such shields is complex, unreliable and expensive, and that the plans could spark a new arms race.


Asked if Australia's moves could escalate an Asian arms race, Hill said: "There is an argument that that would encourage others to develop their attack missiles further or to proliferate them. But the proliferation is already there."


Hill's comments came just days before Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, was due to visit Australia for talks.


Myers, who is touring Asia and Australia, spent Monday in Japan, which recently approved plans to spend billions on U.S. land- and sea-based interceptor missiles that would provide it a defense against North Korea.


Australia, which has sent troops to U.S.-led wars in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites), has in the past angered some Asian neighbors with its close strategic links to the United States.


Prime Minister John Howard sent shock waves through the region last year when he suggested he might launch pre-emptive strikes at terror camps in the region if they were perceived to be a threat to Australia.


President Bush (news - web sites) has called Australia a U.S. "sheriff" in the Asia-Pacific region, a suggestion that riled then-Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.


"I can assure Australia that if it acts as a sheriff in this country he will be treated as a terrorist and dealt with as a terrorist," Mahathir said in October.

   



In Jakarta, an opposition lawmaker in the Indonesian parliament insisted Tuesday that Indonesia was a clear target of any proposed Australian missile defense system.

"We are really concerned with this military buildup, it's not defensive anymore, it's offensive already," lawmaker Djoko Susilo said.

Canberra already had decided to buy air-to-surface attack cruise missiles that would be launched from fighter jets and surveillance planes, Hill said.

Ron Huisken, an expert in U.S. defense policy, said the government needed to justify why such systems were necessary.

"It's a complicated business. It makes a big difference whether you aspire to defend Australia itself or whether you aspire to defend Australian expeditionary forces going overseas, there's a lot of holes in the story so far before we spend lots of money," said Huisken, who is based a the Australian National University.

Last year, Hill announced government plans to spend $10.3 billion, or 1.9 percent of the nation's economic output, on defense for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004.

Bush wants to place 20 Standard Missile-3 interceptors aboard three Navy ships with improved versions of the Aegis system.

This sea-based system was outlawed under the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, but the United States withdrew from the treaty last year. The plan also calls for the development of ground-based interceptors.