Lodamun

[imperialpearl]

Parts of Lodamese Airspace and specific portions of the Karzon Strait and the Lodamese economic exclusion zone are expected to be closed to civilian and military traffic as the Strategic Defence Agency (SDA) announced a series of planned missile defence tests in the coming month. In a joint press statement issued earlier this morning, the Lodamese Coast Guard, the Lodamese Air Force and the Strategic Defence Agency announced that in anticipation of a series of missile defence tests, commercial and military air traffic moving through the designated area would be rerouted, with civilian and military maritime traffic to be escorted through the zone under the supervision of both the Coast Guard and Navy. The announcement comes amidst a flurry of activity within the SDA following the announcement that the agency had poured significant finances into the revitalisation of the Lodamese missile defence programme. It falls into the wider context of the agency’s larger ambitions towards enhancing continental security within North Seleya and the wider Seleyan continent by extension.

 The uniqueness of the notice has garnered significant attention from the public who are becoming mystified by the supposed spectacle. “It’s sort of a thing you don’t really get that much you know,” Michael Rose, a leisure sailing enthusiast. “Usually, when we get notices from the Coast Guard it's related to inclement weather, but beyond that, we don’t really restrict our movement. Receiving these notices, which restrict the movement of marine traffic through the area, is very interesting.” Although the finer details surrounding the tests are not widely known, many have speculated that the SDA is set to test the Guardian missile defence system. “I think these tests form part of their re-evaluation of the Guardian missile defence system, seeing that they [the SDA] has expressed intentions of refocusing its efforts on enhancing the capabilities of the system,” Arthur Allen, a Senior Analyst for the Centre for Geostrategic Policy and Research explained. Although the Guardian missile defence system has been in the service of the Lodamese Armed Forces for decades, the system has undoubtedly fallen behind regional and international contemporaries. Numerous analysts and defence planners have noted that whereas other systems are ultimately built from the ground up with numerous integrations, be it from satellite and airborne sensors, the Guardian system remains largely outdated, lacking critical functions including most importantly, the ability to accurately engage and destroy short-range, low-flying targets as well as the ability to engage multiple targets at varying distances simultaneously. “This is a system which is outdated and I think the tests being referenced in the notice primarily related to the SDA reacquainting itself with the system’s vulnerabilities and shortcomings,” Allen concluded.

Although the Guardian system had been initially built with the intent of destroying medium to long-range targets, Director of the SDA General Daniel Sutton believes that it is important for the system to attain an ability to engage short-range, low-flying targets. “I think it is necessary for us to maintain some sort of capability which would allow for us to engage those short-range threats, especially granted these systems could be placed in difficult environments where short-range, immediate engagements may be the primary focus,” General Sutton said in an interview a month ago. The SDA had identified intercontinental ballistic missiles (primarily fielded by Beiteynu) and Hypersonic missiles (fielded by numerous nations including Baltusia and Trigunia) as the primary threats against which much of its investments in missile defence and search/track radar are geared. “We believe in strategic parity. Meaning that we can eliminate/negate the technologies and systems currently employed by potential adversaries in order to bring ourselves into an equal footing with nations. Strategic parity means that we bring them to a position whereby their inherent advantages mean nothing in the face of counter-systems which can reduce their offensive posture. These weapons [ICBMs and Hypersonic missiles] pose the greatest threat to security on the Seleyan continent and it is only right that we build within Lodamun and our partners in the region, a capacity to defeat these weapons full stop,” General Sutton proclaimed.