More distributed operating concepts needed for US Army air and missile defense
A new challenge faces the joint force: the prospect of conflict with a near-peer adversary who has spent two decades going to school on the U.S. way of war. U.S….
In Depth Analysis, Commentary, and Publications
Iranian Missile Launches: 1988-Present
Despite Iran’s apparent compliance with the nuclear deal concluded in 2015, its missile programs remain a serious concern. Since 2006, the United Nations has repeatedly sanctioned Iran’s ballistic missile programs,…
Op-ed: Improve the Space-Based Sensor System
The Pentagon’s missile defense review is now underway, incorporating mandates from both the White House and Congress. One of its considerations, at presidential direction, is whether there should be a…
North Korea’s New ICBM
CSIS Critical Questions What did North Korea launch? North Korea conducted a flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that it has designated the Hwasong-14. During the July 3…
Aegis Intercept Test: Critical Questions
CSIS Critical Questions The Missile Defense Agency yesterday conducted an intercept test of the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA (SM-3 IIA), a relatively new interceptor designed for use in the Aegis Ballistic Missile…
The Future of Missile Defense in the Asia Pacific
Missile threats facing both the United States and its allies in the Asia-Pacific are increasing in complexity, number, and source. In response, the Trump administration is using missile defenses to…
The GMD Intercept: What Does It Mean?
CSIS Critical Questions Today’s missile defense test was a success. What does that mean? This is a good day for homeland missile defense, and a bad day for Kim Jong-un….
Analyzing the PB 2018 Missile Defense Agency Budget
The Trump Administration’s proposed FY2018 budget for the Missile Defense Agency was released yesterday with a topline request of $7.9 billion. The amount represents $380 million more than the budget…
North Korea Missile Launches: 1984-Present
The following database provides a chronology of North Korea missile launches and nuclear detonations, also reflected in the graphic above. These entries include full flight tests of ballistic and cruise missiles,…
Missile Maps and Infographics
Country China Iran India Russia North Korea Pakistan Yemen These graphics display the missile activity and capabilities of countries around the globe, including missile ranges, missile testing patterns, and more….
North Korea’s New Missiles on Parade
This past weekend, North Korea conducted a major military parade, an annual affair to commemorate the birth of Kim Il-sung. The event included the conspicuous display of many missiles and…
Missile Defense 2020: Next Steps for Defending the Homeland
In policy pronouncements over the last two administrations, the protection of the American homeland was regularly identified as the first priority of U.S. missile defense efforts. Homeland missile defense today…
Video: Next Steps for Defending the Homeland
Protecting the homeland is regularly identified as the top priority of U.S. missile defense efforts. This mission is dependent upon a global network of sensors and interceptors, including the Ground-based…
Homeland Missile Defense: Illustrations
This page provides downloadable versions of all illustrations found in Missile Defense 2020: Next Steps for Defending the Homeland. Illustrations are organized by chapter, in the order of their appearance…
Op-ed: Next Steps for Homeland Missile Defense
Should North Korea fire a long-range ballistic missile in anger, America’s only line of defense is an integrated system of interceptors and sensors known as the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system…
Op-ed: US Missile Defenses Need Better Sensors, and Soon
Gaps in coverage leave interceptors less-equipped to defeat the threats of tomorrow. No missile defense is better than the sensors that tell the interceptors where to go and what to…
FY 2017 Missile Defense Agency Budget Tracker
This chart shows the Missile Defense Agency budget movements made by each committee in both the House and Senate. The green highlighted columns show the final totals of the authorization…
Op-ed: Missile Defense Policy Review – A Ripe Opportunity
The defense authorization act signed into law in December 2016 contained an important provision mandating a review of missile defeat policy, strategy, and capability, to be completed and submitted to…
Op-ed: How to Stop Russia from Cheating on Missile Treaty
In the series finale of the television show Breaking Bad, chemistry teacher-turned meth kingpin Walter White breaks into the home of an ex-business partner, who out of fear arms himself…
The Russia – NATO A2AD Environment
Among the concerns of the NATO alliance in the post-Crimea era is the increase in Russia’s anti-access area denial (A2AD) capabilities. A2AD forces are classified as those that contribute to…
Missile Defense: Time to Go Big
Nations around the world continue to develop a growing range of ballistic and cruise missiles to asymmetrically threaten U.S. forces, allies, and the American homeland. Missile defenses have now become…
Nuclear Forces: Restore the Primacy of Deterrence
U.S. nuclear deterrent forces have long been the foundation of U.S. national security and the highest priority of the Department of Defense. As President-elect Donald Trump has observed, nuclear weapons…
Video: Midcourse Discrimination
Hit-to-kill ballistic missile defense is the ultimate precision guidance challenge. Many elements of a defense must come together to achieve a long range intercept. One of the most important and…
Interactive: The Missile War in Yemen
In March 2015, the Gulf Cooperation Council, led by Saudi Arabia, launched Operation Decisive Storm in order to bolster the internationally recognized Yemeni government led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur…
Looking East: European Air and Missile Defense after Warsaw
Last week, leaders from all 28 NATO member nations met in Warsaw, coming together for what President Obama called the alliance’s “most important moment” since the end of the Cold…
FY17 Budget Squeezes MDA’s Research and Development
The recently released $7.5 billion FY17 budget request for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) represents an $822 million reduction from last year’s enacted budget. These cuts are essentially divided between…
Op-ed: A Space Sensor Layer for Missile Defense
Space is the place for a variety of missile defense tasks — including launch detection, tracking, discrimination, intercept, and kill assessment. Ballistic missiles travel in space, and the missile defense…
Op-ed: Stop Eating the Seed Corn – The Growing Squeeze on Missile Defense R&D
Over the past fifteen years, missile defense has gone from an idea largely restricted by treaty, to a kind of infancy with initial defensive capability, to what now might be…
MDA and the Color of Money
This study explores the growing competition for scarce dollars at the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA). It traces the authorities, roles, and missions assigned to the agency and the growing…
Missile Defense Budget Trends
Explore high resolution graphs analyzing decades of U.S. missile defense budget trends featured in the CSIS report The Missile Defense Agency and the Color of Money: Fewer Resources, More Responsibilities,…
The Dirty Secret of US-Israel Missile Defense Cooperation
We need a way to fund Israel’s missile defenses without undercutting our own. This weekend, the acting head of Israel’s National Security Council will visit Washington, reportedly to conclude a…
JLENS Future Bleak, But Need for Capability Remains
Missile defense is not just about ballistic missiles. The wider problem of integrated air and missile defense, to include cruise missiles, has received growing attention in recent years. Last May,…
What North Korea’s Latest Missile Test Means for the US and Its Allies
The Unha launch is hardly the basis for panic, but it is time for certain measures to ensure security and stability. A reporter once asked President Kennedy the difference between…
North Korea’s February 2016 Satellite Launch
Q1: What did North Korea launch? A1: On the morning of February 7, North Korea launched an Unha-type rocket, headed due south. The rocket then apparently orbited an “earth observation…
Nuclear Option Weighed by ROK Lawmakers
North Korea’s fourth nuclear test has provoked renewed calls among leading South Korean lawmakers for South Korea to obtain its own nuclear deterrent force. Grabbing headlines most recently was the…
LRSO: Underappreciated Component of 21st Century Deterrence
The U.S. Air Force awarded a much-anticipated contract for the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRSB) last month, a critical platform to support both conventional missions and nuclear deterrence. Much remains…
European Missile Defense after Ukraine and the Iran Deal
With the conclusion of a joint plan of action for Iran’s nuclear program, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia has returned to his favorite talking point: that NATO should scale…
Sustaining Nuclear Deterrence Requires New Capabilities
Defense News US Defense Secretary Ash Carter recently visited Berlin to assure allies that the US would deter aggression. NATO leaders are worried that Russia might invade the Baltics in…
Op-ed: What a Yemeni Missile Teaches Us About the Iran Deal
One may be forgiven for not noticing that Saudi Arabia on June 6 used Patriot missiles to intercept a Scud-class missile fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen. Besides adding the…
Op-ed: Getting the GCC to Cooperate on Missile Defense
This week President Obama convenes a summit with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, at which he will reportedly urge GCC members to move forward on missile defense cooperation….
Distributed Lethality: Navy’s Doubling Down on Missiles
The Navy’s bold new “distributed lethality” (DL) concept could dramatically change naval operations both in terms of geographic dispersion and armaments of individual ships. By decreasing emphasis on manned aircraft,…
Op-Ed: Like It or Not, Containment Is What It Is
As bad as containment sounds, it may now be hard to accomplish more. Secretary of State John Kerry has emphatically denied that the United States is pursuing a containment strategy…
The Future of Homeland Missile Defense
The annual Space and Missile Defense conference held August 11-14 in Huntsville, Alabama covered a wide range of topics, but the future of Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program was among…
Ballistic and Cruise Missile Defense Advances
Several recent tests suggest progress for both ballistic and cruise missile defenses. On June 22, a Ground-based Interceptor (GBI) successfully destroyed a long-range target high above the Pacific. As the…