From: Stasi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: U.S. Sees Long-range Missile Threat From China, North Korea, Iran HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------- Thursday, January 10, 2002 4:28 PM U.S. Sees Long-range Missile Threat From China, North Korea, Iran WASHINGTON, Jan 10, 2002 -- (dpa) The Central Intelligence Agency in the United States said in a report released Wednesday that China will quadruple or quintuple its number of long-range nuclear missiles by 2015, adding that by that same year, Washington expects to face missile threats from North Korea and Iran as well. The report, which the CIA compiled from information collected by several intelligence agencies, said China is expected to have 75 to 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles in 13 years, most of which will be pointed at the United States. Now Beijing has about 20 such missiles. China is developing three new mobile missile systems to act as a deterrent to the United States and Russia; two are road-mobile, and the third is submarine-launched, the CIA said. In addition, North Korea might be ready to test a multiple-stage missile capable of reaching the Western United States, said the report, entitled "Foreign Missile Developments and the Ballistic Missile Threat through 2015". Pyongyang has stopped long-range missile testing until 2003, provided its talks with Washington continue, but it still continues to develop missiles, the CIA said. Iran, which already has a 1,300-kilometer-range medium-range ballistic missile, is developing a long-range space-launch-vehicle (SLV) system, the CIA said. "All agencies agree that Iran could attempt a launch in mid- decade, but Tehran is likely to take until the last half of the decade to flight test an ICBM/SLV; one agency further believes that Iran is unlikely to conduct a successful test until after 2015," the report said. As for Iraq, the report said it could test long-range missiles before 2015 but only if UN trade restrictions are lifted and if Baghdad received much help from a foreign source, adding, however, that the possibility was not likely. But it warned short- and medium-range missiles are already posing a threat to the U.S. military, U.S. interests and allies overseas. "Proliferation of ballistic missile-related technologies, materials and expertise - especially by Russian, Chinese and North Korean entities - has enabled emerging missile states to accelerate missile development, acquire new capabilities and potentially develop even more capable and longer range future systems," the report said. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
