USA:s bidrag till Natos missilförsvar

There was a great interest in President Obama's missile defence concept, the Phased Adapted Approach (PAA), when it was presented in the fall of 2009 and at the NATO summit in Lisbon the following year. The missile defence has be-come a major defence policy factor and Swedish policy makers have a need to be familiar with its status and development. This report provides an overview of the military and security implications of the current U.S. missile defence plans for Europe. The report describes what the new missile defence concept encompasses, analyzes how the concept will be imple-mented in Europe, and lastly gives a picture of what security policy conse-quences the concept may bring. The analysis of he PAA entails a discussion of military capabilities and stated American aspirations. The geopolitical consequences will use the military analy-sis in combination with different national perspectives. The most important conclusions are - The gradually improved interceptors have ranges equal to the assessed threat. - Interceptors located in the Baltic Sea region are needed to defend NATO from ballistic missiles fired from the Middle East. - The missile defence elements deployed close to Sweden will probably bring other conventional capabilities, like sophisticated air defence, etc. - The missile defence is very important for Russia, both as a tool to get more political influence and as a potential threat. - The missile defence is very important for Sweden cause its part of NATO's Article 5; international missile defence cooperation, missile de-fence rules of engagement policy, how missile defence relates to arms control, and missile defence function in an armed attack.