Britain Designs Anti-Missile Defense System Enemy Scuds Would Be Destroyed In Space, Report Says

With more developing countries arming themselves with long-range missiles, Britain is designing its own ballistic missile defense, Jane’s International Defense Review reported.

British researchers have sketched out a system they say could destroy enemy Scuds and long-range missiles in space, the magazine reported in its November issue, made available Tuesday to The Associated Press.

The study, by the Defense Research Agency, is the first indication that Britain is interested in producing a home-grown ballistic defense system, deputy editor Clifford Beal said.

The magazine said the Ministry of Defense had commissioned the Defense Research Agency to come up with a quick solution to defend against a ballistic missile attack.

The Ministry of Defense would not comment directly on the report but said Britain has been looking at ballistic missile defenses with the United States and France.

The agency’s design is similar to the U.S. Theater High Altitude Air Defense system, known as THAAD, which has already been test flown and should enter production in the next few years, Beal said.

The Ministry of Defense also has awarded a contract to British Aerospace for a pre-feasibility study of ballistic defense systems. Beal said the government is waiting for the results of this study before making any decisions.

Third World countries are including more ballistic missiles in their arsenals, and the United States and western European nations are getting more interested in finding new ways of defending themselves from such attacks.

The Iraqi scud attacks on Tel Aviv and Riyadh during the 1991 Gulf War showed the difficulties of intercepting enemy missiles. Patriot missile batteries intercepted incoming scuds in the atmosphere, often showering debris on the Israeli and Saudi Arabian cities.

The Defense Research Agency study, submitted to the Ministry of Defense in the spring, would use a decades-old Skylark rocket which would loft a “kinetic-kill vehicle” into space to destroy incoming missiles, Beal said.

The “kinetic-kill vehicle” would contain an infra-red seeker and thruster jets to home in on an enemy missile at its highest point in space, outside of the atmosphere, he said.

The vehicle would then collide with the enemy missile at supersonic speeds “and blow it to bits,” Beal said.

“The beauty of this is that you’re doing all of this in space and there’s no chance of anything falling on to the targets,” Beal said.