State House resolution opposes $1.9B Hawaii radar

A resolution introduced in the state Legislature calls for the Missile Defense Agency to “resist” siting a $1.9 billion defensive radar in Hawaii because it is a “prime example of wasteful Pentagon spending” during a time of unprecedented need for public services in health, education and welfare.

The new resolution in the House states that new hypersonic and low-flying cruise missiles are being developed by China and Russia that can evade detection by overflying ground-based air defense sensors and underflying ballistic missile sensors.

The advances render the proposed Homeland Defense Radar-Hawaii “obsolete” — to the point that the Missile Defense Agency “defunded the HDR-H in the 2020 Defense Authorization Act,” according to the resolution.

Defense experts and military commanders, however, say the big radar would be important in the protection of Hawaii from North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles.

What is clear is that the radar proposed for either Oahu or Kauai has become caught in a tug of war involving Hawaii congressional members who want the radar, and evolving needs — including space-based sensors — with not enough money to fund a wide range of extremely costly missile defense systems.

“Our national missile defense capability is clearly focused on North Korea right now — not on China, Russia and Iran,” Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Feb. 24.

At the same time, Adm. Phil Davidson, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on Oahu, is focused on Chinese threats to Guam from ships, submarines and bombers that could fire cruise missiles.

As a result, Davidson is seeking $1.6 billion from fiscal 2022 through 2027 for a 360-degree Aegis Ashore air and missile defense system on Guam.

House Speaker Scott Saiki said he introduced the resolution opposing the Hawaii radar at the request of the Democratic Party of Hawaii Environmental Caucus.

Saiki said that as speaker he receives a lot of requests from individuals and organizations requesting bills and resolutions.

“I’m pretty liberal in terms of accommodating those requests,” he said. “I believe that the Legislature is a place where people’s ideas or views should be raised.”

Saiki said he supports the construction of the radar either on Oahu or Kauai. The radar would not only help improve the defense of Hawaii by better tracking North Korean ballistic missiles, but also with missile defense for the “entire Pacific basin and the West Coast and even other parts of the continental U.S.,” he said.

The resolution states that “there are serious environmental, social and cultural concerns associated with HDR-H … all of which compound the frustration of Hawaii residents over the military’s unsatisfactory stewardship” of sites such as Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island and the Red Hill fuel tanks.

Not building the radar also would “avoid heightening Hawaii’s perception as a strategic strike target.” But Riki Ellison, chairman of the nonprofit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said, “Hawaii is targeted and will always be targeted — with or without radars.”

Oahu is home to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the U.S. Pacific Fleet and Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Ellison notes.

Hawaii as a military target “has nothing to do with HDR-H, which would be deployed on PMRF with several other existing radars,” he said.

“You can never have enough sensor coverage,” and HDR-H would replace reliance on the Sea-Based X-Band Radar, Ellison said.

“Space is a great answer, but we have not yet acquired, developed and put up” persistent space- discriminating sensors for ICBM tracking and discrimination, he said.