Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System - Political Debate

Political Debate

Tom Laliberty of Raytheon said that President Barack Obama was forced to shift from a land based missile defense system to a sea based one because of the difficulties of coordinating with partner nations.

There is discussion about the effectiveness of this plan. Some critics say it might not be as effective as a ground-based defense. Also, the US Defense Department has said it would be just one component of a wider defense which might also include ground-based facilities. There are some reports that SPY-1 radar systems onboard some individual warships are not being maintained properly. A Navy panel headed by retired Vice Adm. Phillip Balisle has asserted that since the late 1990s there has been an over-emphasis on saving money, including cuts in crews and streamlined training and maintenance, which has led to a drastic decline in readiness, and has left Aegis combat systems in low state of readiness. And in spite of a reduction in the objective for the number of Aegis armed warships to field, the USN will still fall short of this reduced objective under the FY2012 shipbuilding plan for the next 30 years.

However Russia considers the system to be so formidable that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that they would "react in the sharpest manner" to any American ships armed with the system found near their shores.