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Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

lunarchick - 04:37am Aug 26, 2001 EST (#8140 of 8151)
lunarchick@www.com

RUSSIA BEGINS PRODUCTION OF NEW CRUISE MISSILE
ITAR-TASS reported

on 23 August that Russia has begun production of a new supersonic cruise missile, the X-22M, which has a range of 400 kilometers and a speed of 3,600 kilometers per hour. The agency said that no military in the world has any weapon to counter this new weapon. Also on 23 August, "Krasnaya zvezda" published the complete text of the new naval doctrine approved by President Putin on 27 June, which was much discussed at that time. PG http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2001/08/1-RUS/rus-240801.html

lunarchick - 04:56am Aug 26, 2001 EST (#8141 of 8151)
lunarchick@www.com

In perspective: 400km in 9 mins ... meanwhile the number 3701 bus has just left the depot, negotiated three sets of traffic lights .. and is currently snarled in traffic around Red_Square. It's all a matter of setting priorities in politics - isn't it?

lunarchick - 05:00am Aug 26, 2001 EST (#8142 of 8151)
lunarchick@www.com

MOSCOW FINDS SELLING AIR ROUTES PROFITABLE Viktor Galkin, the first deputy chief of the state civil aviation service of the Transport Ministry, told ITAR-TASS on 23 August that "we regard our airspace as a marketable product from which the state can receive extra revenue." He said that foreign airlines are charged $68 for every 100 kilometers of flight over Russia's territory. PG

? How much do USA bombers pay when they overfly on route to Rogue Countries ?

rshowalter - 06:37am Aug 26, 2001 EST (#8143 of 8151)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

The "how much do bombers pay to overfly?" question is a VERY good one -- and analogous questions about potential charging for military usage of waters claimed, on a coordinated basis, by nation states would make sense, too.

"The power to tax is the power to destroy."

Nation states might have good reasons to make it expensive for military airplanes of other nation states to traverse their air space -- especially on missions where munitions were delivered, or the threat of delivery of munitions was present.

lunarchick - 06:51am Aug 26, 2001 EST (#8144 of 8151)
lunarchick@www.com

http://www.danshistory.com/cruise.html http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/features/Kosovo/pictures.html

rshowalter - 07:25am Aug 26, 2001 EST (#8145 of 8151)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

great stuff.

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