U.S. officials believe the North is preparing to test fire a medium-range "Musudan" missile.
But Western Europe is at present developing nothing that could be used to stop medium-range rockets.
The self-guided Russian R-77 medium-range air-to-air missile is almost as good as the U.S. AIM-120 AMRAAM.
Analysts say the Syrian government maintains up to 400 of the short- and medium-range Russian-developed Scud missiles.
But Britain believes Iran has also conducted at least three secret tests of medium-range ballistic missiles since October.
Others thought that the Reagan administration's decision to put medium-range cruise and Pershing nuclear missiles in Europe was mistaken.
Both sides have short and medium-range ballistic missiles which could deliver nuclear warheads.
Israel could in the meantime upgrade its PAC-2 anti-missile batteries responsible for contending with medium-range missiles, with US-made PAC-3s.
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Israel's Iron Dome can protect against short-range missiles, and recently upgraded Arrow systems are designed to thwart advanced medium-range missiles.
It was only after the Second Lebanon War in 2006 that steps were taken to defend against short and medium-range rockets.
As U.S. intelligence revealed last week, the destructive intercept was performed by a kinetic-kill vehicle (KKV) launched onboard a medium-range ballistic missile.
Even more alarmingly, Israel has no medium-range or long-range conventional missile arsenals.
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And COMAC is not the only manufacturer making medium-range jets in China.
South Korean officials have also said the North is poised to test-fire a medium-range missile capable of reaching the American territory of Guam.
Cartwright pointed to proliferation of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, noting that the country must be able to discourage adversaries from using them.
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Similarly, the Alaska site would do nothing to alleviate the grave danger American forces overseas presently face from short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.
For instance, in response to Syria's medium-range missiles, Israel is developing the David's Sling anti-missile system that should be ready in eight years.
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The U.S. said on Wednesday it would move an advanced missile-defense system to Guam to defend U.S. bases in the Pacific against medium-range missiles from North Korea.
"At the NATO summit in April, we adopted a resolution focusing on building a defense system against real, existing threats, i.e. short-range and medium-range missiles, " Fischer said.
Separately, Vivek Lall, who heads the Indian operations at Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems unit, said the company will bid to sell six medium-range maritime patrol aircraft to India.
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These include: eight sophisticated diesel submarines, advanced SU-30 fighter aircraft, modern air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons, supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles and as many as 350 short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.
Curiously, with those two players out, Woodson hasn't turned to 40-year-old big man Kurt Thomas, who is solid defensively, still rebounds well and has forever had a nice medium-range shot.
Fighter jets struck the vehicles because they were carrying SA-17 missile parts, a Russian-made medium-range delivery system, and equipment that could have been employed in an attack against Israel, another source told CNN.
So if the C919 is to be commercially viable, COMAC needs to get the plane up in the air on or close to its ambitious schedule while the market for medium-range aircraft remains hot.
Absent Soviet agreement to such a ban (like the one that ultimately emerged in the INF Treaty with respect to medium-range ballistic missiles), any reductions agreed to in START could be readily circumvented without detection.
Reinforcing existing defences against possible long-range Iranian missiles is seen as a problem for the future, given that America now says the Iranians are working more on short- and medium-range missiles than on long-range ones.
The GTF will power Mitsubishi's new regional jet, as well as Bombardier's new CSeries, a 110-130 seat (and potentially 150 seat) medium-range aircraft that has 90 firm orders, the latest coming from Republic Airways last month.
South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin told a parliamentary committee in Seoul that the North has moved a medium-range missile to its East coast for an imminent test firing or military drill, according to the semi-official South Korean news agency Yonhap.
The report, which was signed by U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and sent to senators and U.S. representatives on defense committees, said Iran is continuing to develop other missiles that can hit Israel and Eastern Europe, including an extended-range Shabab-3 and a medium-range ballistic missile called the Ashura that can fly more than 1, 200 miles.
The performance of critical subsystems and other lessons learned during its tests -- even those that prove to be less than fully successful -- contribute significantly to the maturing of urgently systems that can defend against short-, medium- and long-range missiles.
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