Third World Tactical Ballistic Missiles: A Strategy for Defense

摘要

On 18 January 1991 Iraq fired eight Scud-class tactical ballistic missiles intoIsrael striking targets in the civil populace of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The attack created immediate panic, threatened to significantly increase hostilities, and had the potential of changing the face of that war. It emphasized to the world that it faced a new kind of warfare, wherein Third World countries might successfully contest large industrial powers on the battlefield. While TBMs are not, per se, a new threat, recent improvements in missile technologies, and the introduction of improved conventional, chemical and biological warheads have significantly increased their accuracy and lethality. Historically, our attention on the use of TBMs had been focused on the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact threat. Cohesive strategies and plans, hardware and software were developed. However, the spread of TBMs in Third World countries, along with the diminishing Soviet threat, argue for a reexamination of U.S. strategy for dealing with TBMs. Such a strategy must take into account both operational and tactical level considerations, contingency versus fixed base operations, mobility requirements, political and economic factors, and issues related to interoperability of anti-tactical missile systems. This paper exams Third World threat scenarios, development and current status of the Joint Tactical Missile Defense (JTMD) program, and a strategy that the U.S. should follow in countering the TBM threat.