Page 20 - ADT MARCH 2021 Online Magazine

Focusing

on Defence [ MISSILE DEFENCE ]

EVEN AS UKRAINE PAYS THE PRICE FOR NOT The Biden administration was reportedly in
HAVING A MODERN AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM, favor of transferring the Rafael made Iron Dome
to Ukraine after the country officially requested
OTHER COUNTRIES SCRAMBLE TO FORTIFY them. Israel, however, did not agree to the pro-
THEIR OWN MISSILE DEFENCE CAPABILITIES posal as it was wary of the effect such an action
would have on its relations with Russia. In 2014,
Arun Sivasankaran then President Barack Obama went against
the advice of senior national security officials
and decided not to provide lethal aid to the
Missile defence systems, already high on the priority list of militar- country. In August 2018, Ukraine sought U.S.
ies, have shot up even further as Russia fires missiles, bombers and help again to modernize its air defense systems
artillery on cities and military stations in Ukraine, and a shocked but was successful only in getting President
world watches in horror. Further underlining the importance of Donald Trump to approve the sale of Javelin
effective missile defense systems is the fact that the situation anti-tank missiles.
in Ukraine would have unfolded differently if the country had a
modern air defense system. Ever since Russia seized Crimea in Other countries are moving ahead with plans to
2014, Ukraine has been on the lookout for modern surface-to-air either bolster existing missile defence systems
missiles, but requests to the U.S. were turned down at least thrice. or to introduce them. In January, Lockheed
Martin announced that it had successfully
completed a demonstration of its new SPY-7
radar and software integration program for
Japan’s Aegis System Equipped Vessel (ASEV)
programme. A scalable radar that can protect
against ballistic missiles and anti-air missiles,
SPY-7 can detect, track, and engage sophisti-
cated ballistic missile threats, including multiple
threats at once. “The SPY-7 radar brings supe-
rior capability to sea or land-based platforms,
utilizing proven production technology scaled
from the Long-Range Discrimination Radar,
which recently achieved initial fielding in Clear,
Alaska” said Joe DePietro, vice president and
general manager of Naval Combat and Missile

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