Poland May Join Mobile Anti-Missile System, Finmeccanica Says
Poland may join a multinational mobile anti-missile program that the U.S. plans to withdraw from, said Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, chairman of Finmeccanica SpA (FNC), one of the companies involved in the system’s development.
The U.S. has said it wants to terminate its role in the Medium Extended Air Defense System, or Meads, when the current development phase ends in 2013. The seven-year old, $4.2 billion program is a joint effort of the U.S., Italy and Germany involving a consortium of companies led by Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) including Rome-based Finmeccanica.
“The Italian Ministry of Defense wants to save the program,” Guarguaglini said in an interview at the Paris Air Show yesterday. “Maybe we have Poland” joining the system, Guarguaglini said, adding that talks are underway with the country.
“Several nations have expressed interest” in the system, Cheryl Amerine, a spokeswoman for Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed, said in an e-mail. Lockheed can’t identify them yet, she said. Janusz Sejmej, a spokesman for Poland’s Ministry of Defense, said he couldn’t comment on the matter.
Following Russian objections, President Barack Obama’s administration scrapped a proposal by his predecessor, George W. Bush, to install a fixed-base anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic to defend Europe from Iranian missiles.
Instead, the Obama administration has proposed a combination of sea-based missile defense systems using the U.S. Navy’s SM-3 interceptors, which would also be adapted for use on land. Meads is being designed to counter shorter-range missiles than the SM-3 system, which is aimed at intermediate-range missiles.
U.S. Role
The U.S. contributes 58 percent of the funding for the Meads program. The anti-missile system is designed to work within NATO’s command structure, using the latest version of the Patriot missile developed by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Co. (RTN)
The program’s development is managed out of Orlando, Florida, under Meads International LLC, a joint venture of Lockheed, Lfk-Lenkflugkorpersysteme Gmbh of Germany and MBDA of Italy.
MBDA is the world’s second-largest missile maker, after Raytheon of Waltham, Massachusetts. MBDA is jointly owned by BAE Systems Plc, European Aeronautic, Defence and Space Co. and Finmeccanica.
Congressional Proposals
The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee said in January the program cost had increased by $1 billion and the schedule was delayed an additional 18 months from its earlier plan.
The Pentagon in its 2012 budget is seeking $406.6 million for the program and plans to ask for an identical amount in the 2013 spending plan to complete its commitment.
The 2012 defense budget is yet to be approved by Congress. One defense panel in the House of Representatives has proposed cutting $149.5 million from the 2012 request for Meads. The Senate Armed Services Committee has proposed eliminating the funding completely. To become law both houses of Congress must pass identical legislation and it must be signed by the president.
To contact the reporters on this story: Gopal Ratnam in Paris at gratnam1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net
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