Missile defense could raise tensions between US, Russia, China

The destroyer USS Hopper launches a missile in the Pacific in July 2009. The Missile Defense Agency test successfully intercepted a sub-scale, short-range ballistic missile.

 

Missile technology is proliferating. It remains unclear how quickly foes such as Iran and North Korea could develop a capability to strike the United States with missiles, but the U.S. says Iran is already capable of hitting Europe. The United States is spending nearly $10 billion a year on missile defense when military budgets are stretched. But the programs have yet to prove that they can reliably knock long-range missiles out of the sky and protect the U.S. from emerging threats.


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