Stop National Missile Defence
by Hannah Middleton and Denis Doherty According to the US Government, NMD is designed to defend the entire United States while Theatre Missile Defence (TMD) systems are intended to defend smaller areas. They are designed to be mobile so that they can be deployed with troops or moved as needed to defend US allies. One of the TMD systems is Navy Area Defense, a ship-based system designed to target ballistic missiles with ranges up to 600 to 1,000 kilometres. Despite Australian Government denials of any involvement with NMD or TMD, in 1995 Australia co-operated with the US Ballistic Missile Defense Organisation (BMDO) in a research project involving sensor, tracking and communications technologies and US rocket firings from Woomera. In September 1997, four ballistic missiles were fired from a secret coastal site between Broome and Port Hedland in the north of WA. They were tracked by a range of terrestrial and space based sensors, including Australia's Jindalee over-the-horizon radar, as they travelled at high speed, landing in the ocean. Australia's Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) co-operated with the US Department of Defense BMDO in this test which was codenamed Project Dundee (Down Under Early Warning Experiment). In a press release dated August 8, 1997, the then Minister for Defence, Ian McLachlan said: ""The aim of Project DUNDEE is to investigate the possibility of detecting missile launches in their 'boost phase' immediately after launch.... ""Early detection is important in developing defence against theatre ballistic missiles which travel relatively short distances — typically 300-500 kilometres — and take only a short time to reach their targets." In a public report a senior DSTO researcher, Dr David Cartwright, said the research ""complements Australia's long standing co-operation in the US missile early warning program. ""The program is aimed at developing a defence against theatre ballistic missiles," he said. Last year, "Flight International reported that the US and Australia planned to build a major testing facility north of Broome in WA. Peter La Franchi, author of the "Flight International report, said: ""Since 1996 the Americans have been looking for a site somewhere in the world scarce enough of human beings to allow a basic experiment to take place. Can a warship shoot down a missile over land just minutes after the launch?" The new range would allow the US Navy to stake a larger claim in the "Star Wars" plan by testing ship-based anti-missile systems. Simulated ballistic missiles would be launched from Australia, and — if the tests succeeded — quickly be shot down by the US Navy.