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Russia Threatens Norway Over Radar Base; Says Base
Targeted with Nuclear Missiles
Tomas Valasek
Monday, July 24, 2000
The controversial Vardo X-band radar site in Norway has been
targeted by
Russian nuclear missiles, the Norwegian press reported this past
week,
quoting Russian sources.
Moscow has previously alleged that the radar is a part of the
U.S.-proposed
national missile defense (NMD) system, and as such violates the
1972
Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. X-band radars play a
crucial role in NMD
architecture, tracking missile trajectories and discriminating
between
warheads and decoys. Norway claims the Vardo radar's purpose is
to monitor
space debris.
General Leonid Ivashov, the head of the Defense Ministry's
Military
Cooperation section, also warned the same day that Russia would
take
unspecified measures "unless Norway closes the radar during
Russian military
exercises."
The Vardo radar, even if not connected to the NMD system, could
be used to
monitor Russian tests and gather information on the radar
signature of Russian
missile launches - information that can be used to improve
performance of the
NMD system.
In response, Norway's Defense Minister Sigur Frisvold suggested
that Norway
be included in a U.S. missile defense program, ostensibly to
protect against
threats from "terrorist nations."
However, the timing of the request a day after the Russian
threat to target
Vardo with nuclear missiles makes it abundantly clear that
Norway desires
protection from a possible Russian nuclear strike against the
Vardo radar.
The Vardo X-band radar was manufactured by Raytheon in the early
1990s. It
operated for three years at Vandenberg Air Force base in
California before
being dismantled and moved to Norway.
Although the NMD system plans to use two Europe-based X-band
radars in its
latter stages (in Denmark-administered Greenland and in Great
Britain), Vardo
does not appear in U.S. plans. The Norwegian government
maintains that the
radar's sole purpose is to monitor space debris.
"We have an exceptionally clear agreement with the Americans. If
they wish to
use the radar for another purpose than space surveillance, the
whole
agreement [on the use of the radar by the United States] has to
be
renegotiated," said the project leader for the Vardo radar, Tom
Rykken, in an
interview with the Norwegian daily Bergens Tidende.
However, the radar's unique technical capabilities and its
proximity to Russia -
40 miles from the border - aroused suspicions of foul play in
Moscow. "In the
opinion of our analysts, the [Vardo radar] station will function
as part of the
anti-missile system [NMD]," said General Ivashov.
Russian President Vladimir Putin named Norway alongside Britain
and
Denmark when warning the European countries against cooperation
with the
United States on NMD. "Washington needs European help, above all
from
Britain, Denmark, and Norway. These states risk being drawn into
a process
that will lead to an unpredictable destruction of strategic
stability," he said.
The Russo-Norwegian dispute appeared to die down in early summer
2000.
After unsuccessfully requesting access for its experts to the
Vardo station,
Russia softened its criticism of Norway. General Vladimir
Yakovlev played
down Vardo's role in NMD. "Judging by its technical
characteristics, that radar
is not an element of an [anti-ballistic missile defense]
system," he said.
However, he added, "the information obtained by the radar
station could be
used to develop and improve the anti-ballistic missile system as
it is able to
[monitor] routes and sites for space vehicle launches in the
North Sea."
But the crisis flared anew in July, inflamed by suggestions in
the United States
to switch from destroying enemy missiles in their final,
re-entry phase, as
currently planned, to so-called boost-phase intercepts. The
latter concept relies
on hitting ballistic missiles with intercepts shortly after they
take off, when the
missiles are still attached to boosters (thus presenting a much
larger and hotter
target) and moving considerably slower.
A boost-phase intercept system, however, would require placing
interceptor
missiles and radars close to likely launch sites, on land or on
U.S. Navy ships.
Norway has ordered five Aegis-class radar and missile launch
systems from
the United States.
According to the U.S. Navy, the Aegis system could serve as a
backbone of a
boost-phase intercept missile defense system. Russian officials
again
sounded warning signals.
"If this [Vardo] station works jointly with the radars of
cruisers with guided
missiles, which Norway will receive and which can be
hypothetically armed with
Aegis anti-missile systems, the systems can be used to liquidate
our missiles
at the boost stage," said General Yakovlev.
Tomas Valasek is a senior analyst with the Center for Defense
Information.
This article first appeared in the Center's "The Weekly Defense
Monitor" and
is reprinted here with permission.
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