Newsmax:
“No one has any doubts now that the U.S. missile defense system is a serious destabilizing factor, an incentive for an arms race, and a massive violation of international obligations, including the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles” — so declares General Sergei Shoigu, Russian Defense Minister (April 4, 2018).
Defense Minister Shoigu’s invective against U.S. missile defenses is untrue on every point, and deeply revealing that space-based missile defense is the best possible deterrent of Russian nuclear aggression. Shoigu claims U.S. missile defenses are “a serious destabilizing factor” because they would upset Moscow’s plans for a nuclear first-strike.
Russian military doctrine and planning for a disarming first-strike against adversary nuclear forces and command centers requires achieving a kill probability of 90 percent against these targets. Effective missile defenses, even a relatively small force that could protect more than 10 percent of these crucial targets, could defeat a Russian first-strike — and therefore would be highly stabilizing.
