In Depth Analysis, Commentary, and Publications
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 boost military capability and signal resolve, as indicated by the deployment of THAAD to South Korea...
This is a good day for homeland missile defense, and a bad day for Kim Jong-un. Hit-to-kill missile defense has once again been validated, this time against a complex and challenging ICBM-class threat. The Missile Defense Agency has been on a long road to improving the reliability and capability of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program...
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 submitted by the Obama administration in FY 2017, a five percent increase, and $471 million more than the projected 2018 budget from last year’s Future...
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 artillery pieces, which together demonstrate the nation’s firm intent to develop new and longer-range capabilities, as well as its overall reliance upon such military forces....
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 is provided by the Ground-based Midcourse Defense program and other elements of the larger Ballistic Missile Defense System...
Note: This appears as Chapter 6 in Missile Defense 2020: Next Steps for Defending the Homeland. Future Options This study has so far examined the policy and strategic context for homeland missile defense, the historical background and basis for today’s architecture, the state of GMD today, and currently planned upgrades. We turn now to additional...
Note: This appears as Chapter 4 in Missile Defense 2020: Next Steps for Defending the Homeland. Ground-based Interceptor Development Perhaps the most recognizable component of homeland missile defense is the Ground-based Interceptor (GBI) itself, which represents the product of a long line of hit-to-kill interceptors dating back to the 1980s (Figure 4.1). Many of the...
Note: This appears as Chapter 3 in Missile Defense 2020: Next Steps for Defending the Homeland. The State of Homeland Missile Defense Today Today’s homeland missile defense efforts rest on an integrated system encompassing a wide range of sensors, interceptors, and command and control mechanisms. Since late 2004, these have provided a limited defensive capability...
Note: This appears as Chapter 5 in Missile Defense 2020: Next Steps for Defending the Homeland. Sensors and Command and Control No missile defense system is better than the sensors and command and control systems that determine where the threat is and how to kill it. While interceptors tend to capture the imagination, sensors are...
Note: This appears as Chapter 1 in Missile Defense 2020: Next Steps for Defending the Homeland. Homeland Missile Defense in U.S. Strategy Missile defenses for the homeland now represent an established part of U.S. national security strategy and policy, and the first priority of U.S. missile defense efforts, even while the particular programs, budget levels,...
