MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax-AVN) - The countries possessing major nuclear missile potential should control each other's efforts in building missile defense systems and make sure that no weapons are deployed in outer space, Russian Air Force Commander Army Gen. Vladimir Mikhailov told Interfax.
"According to the modern understanding of models of comprehensive missile defense systems, it is the space component that can make the largest contribution to their efficiency by intercepting most missiles at their active and post-boost trajectories, regardless of the depth of the territory from which the missiles are launched, unlike analogous capabilities of sea-, aerial-, and ground-based missile defense systems," Mikhailov said.
"In building missile defense systems, both for the European continent and the U.S., that is, in creating them against a relatively small number of ballistic missiles of any type, control over the level of development of missile defense systems plays a significant role," he said.
"This concerns above all the U.S., Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and, in the future, China. The key goal for such control should be to prevent the undermining of strategic stability if one or several states build a highly-efficient missile defense system that would serve as a shield to deliver an unreciprocated nuclear strike upon another nuclear power," he said.
"The need for agreements on such control exists already now, because the U.S. programs of building non-strategic missile defense systems envision the development and testing of space-based weapons," he said.