Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / The NATO Allies decided at the November 2002 Prague Summit to conduct a feasibility study concerning the protection of national territories, populations, and forces from the threat of ballistic missile attacks. This thesis examines current missile defense programs and analyzes their potential to protect the Alliance as a whole, thus maintaining the indivisibility of Allied security. The thesis investigates the political, military, economic, and technological challenges for a NATO full-spectrum missile defense and the major questions that the Allies have yet to resolve. It also examines the prospects for cooperation between NATO and Russia in missile defense and potential perils for international stability, including the non-proliferation regime. The thesis concludes that NATO missile defenses will probably enhance the transatlantic link. However, the most crucial challenges include the command and control issue and the potential reactions of Russia and China to defenses capable of protecting NATO homelands against ballistic missile attacks. / Hellenic Army author.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 225 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 210-225).

Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Gerald Brown. Includes bibliographical references (p. 39). Also available online.

Thesis (M.S. in Information Systems and Operations)--Naval Postgraduate School, March 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Dan C. Boger, J. Bret Michael. Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-69). Also available online.

Thesis--School of Advanced Airpower Studies. / Title from title screen (viewed Nov. 5, 2003). "June 1993." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in Electrical Engineering and M.S. in Systems Engineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, Sept. 2004. / Thesis Advisor(s): Phillip E. Pace, Murali Tummala. Includes bibliographical references (p. 139-140). Also available online.

Thesis (M.S.)--Naval Postgraduate School, 2004. / Title from title screen (viewed Nov. 10, 2004). "March 2004." Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-69).

Thesis (M.S. in Applied Physics)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2005. / Thesis Advisor(s): William Colson. Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-98). Also available online.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / In the boost phase interception of ballistic missiles, determining the exact position of a ballistic missile has a significant importance. Several sensors are used to detect and track the missile. These sensors differ from each other in many different aspects. The outputs of radars give range, elevation and azimuth information of the target while space based infrared sensors give elevation and azimuth information. These outputs have to be combined (fused) achieve better position information for the missile. The architecture that is used in this thesis is decision level fusion architecture. This thesis examines four algorithms to fuse the results of radar sensors and space based infrared sensors. An averaging technique, a weighted averaging technique, a Kalman filtering approach and a Bayesian technique are compared. The ballistic missile boost phase segment and the sensors are modeled in MATLAB. The missile vector and dynamics are based upon Newton's laws and the simulation uses an earth-centered coordinate system. The Bayesian algorithm has the best performance resulting in a rms missile position error of less than 20 m. / 1st Lieutenant, Turkish Air Force

Abstract Since being developed in 1956, no matter it¡¦s category, function or quantity, Chinese ballistic missiles have kept renewing and increasing. For example, the development of its strategic missiles has undergone the 1st through the 3rd generation with models from Dongfeng-1 to currently developing Dongfeng-41 Ballistic Missile, and its warhead has been gradually developed from carrier of single nuclear head to combination of both traditional and nuclear warheads and to multiple warheads now. Under such multiple developments, Chinese nuclear strategy according to their official speech has still adopted ¡§minimum deterrence¡¨ claimed by the 1960¡¦s and 1970¡¦s until now, and which has already led to external speculations. They think that Chinese has devoted to modernization of ballistic missiles lately, actively developed more land-based strategic missiles and sea-based nuclear submarines, techniques of multiple warheads and space-based weapons, and reinforced the practicality of tactical nuclear missiles etc. that such development has already exceeded the ¡§minimum deterrence¡¨ strategy, which even develops towards the ¡§limited deterrence¡¨ strategy. Therefore, whether China¡¦s deterrence strategy is changing is one of the assumptions in this study. If China¡¦s deterrence strategy is no longer equipped with the minimum deterrence, then whether the most important features of the minimum deterrence by ¡§no use of nuclear weapons at first¡¨ and China¡¦s¡§three nos principle on nuclear weapons¡¨will be changed accordingly is the second assumption in this study. Chinese ballistic missiles apart from being used as deterrence can also be used to practice coercive and annihilative strategies. Especially in the issue of Taiwan, when Chinese deterrence strategy fails in terms of Taiwan, it may use coercive or annihilative strategies to achieve their political and military objectives. As the ability of Taiwan¡¦s anti-ballistic missile is obviously insufficient; so if Taiwan suffers the attack from Chinese missiles, the result will be unimaginable. Therefore, how to prevent the attack from its missiles is what I would like to discuss in this paper. For the probable battle by the two sides of the Taiwan Strait in the future, in order to quickly facilitate the victory, whether Chinese will use micro-kiloton nuclear warhead to destroy the important and stable military targets in Taiwan to help smooth the warfare and further crash the myth that Chinese will not use nuclear weapons against Taiwan is the 3rd assumption in this paper. Finally how to increase our defense against ballistic missiles and whether we should participate in the TMD (Theatre Missile Defense) provided by America, I will provide several suggestions for references of the related units, hoping to make certain contributions towards Taiwanese prevention against the threat from Chinese ballistic missile.