The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has requested the largest-ever budget increase of $9.9 billion in funding for the 2019 fiscal year, citing growing intercontinental-range ballistic missile (ICBM) threats from North Korea and ballistic missile threats from Iran.
In fact, the request for the 2019 fiscal year is the single most significant request from the Agency since 1985, when President Reagan first established the Strategic Defense Initiative.
MDA fully supports President Trump’s National Defense Strategy of increased deficit spending, which allows the nation to: “Compete, Deter, and Win,” in the next world war.
The agency also wants to spend $269 million on laser drones to shoot North Korean ICBMs out of the sky, along with upgrading the nation’s defense systems against hypersonic threats.
The increase in MDA funding will allow the continued developments and deployments of integrated, layered missile defense systems to combat against missiles threats on the homeland.
MDA highlights their ten easy steps to intercepting a missile headed for the continental United States:
An ICBM can travel at extremely high speeds—at times more than 15,000 mph, or almost 20 times the speed of sound. Kinetic energy interceptors can travel fast enough to create closing speeds exceeding 25,000 mph. The speeds, trajectories, and points of launch that must be considered always change. In missile defense, everything is about precision. The BMDS must not only work in terms of milliseconds, but the missiles and warheads the system is targeting have bull’s-eyes measured in centimeters.
“Recent escalation of the threat from North Korea has demonstrated an advanced and accelerated capability,” the Agency’s Budget Estimates report notes. “North Korea is committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States.”
“Iran is fielding increased numbers of theater ballistic missiles, improving its existing inventory, and is developing technical capabilities to produce an ICBM, and this effort is benefiting from its ballistic missile and space launch vehicle programs,” the Agency’s report wrote. Iran’s ballistic missile program has not tested any missile capable of striking intercontinental ranges, but its rockets can strike as far as southeastern Europe which is concerning to NATO forces.
To combat the threats of North Korea and Iran, the MDA states the United States must continue developing new defense capabilities to tackle the future of risks. That means increasing investments in advanced technologies that bring upgraded capacities to the warfighter.
- Technology Maturation Initiatives (PE 0604115C): MDA requests $148.8 million to build on the foundational successes in Weapons Technology and Discrimination Sensor Technology. MDA will integrate an advanced sensor into the tactically proven Multispectral Targeting System and MQ-9 combination to address precision track and discrimination performance of this technology with the goal of eventually migrating to a space sensor layer. MDA’s plan is to continue the design to begin fabrication of a UAV-borne laser to address boost phase missile defense risks. Scalable, efficient, and compact high-energy lasers can be game –changing capabilities within missile defense architectures.
- Hypersonic Defense (PE 0604181C): MDA is requesting $120.4 million in FY 2019. MDA will execute a rigorous systems engineering process, identify and mature full kill chain technology, provide analysis and assessment of target of opportunity events, and execute near term sensor and command and control capability upgrades to address defense from hypersonic threats. This effort will execute the Defense Science Board’s recommendations to develop and deliver a set of material solutions to address and defeat hypersonic threats informed by a set of near-term technology demonstrations. An integrated set of enhancements will provide incremental capability measured by progress and knowledge points in the following areas: establishment of systems engineering needs and requirements to identify alternative material solutions; execution of a series of sensor technology
The Hill outlines where the MDA plans on spending the remainder of its budget on modernizing the nuclear arsenal and missile defense systems across the United States.
That would buy 43 Aegis interceptors for $1.7 billion, four Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) interceptors and 10 silos for $2.1 billion, 82 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors for $1.1 billion and 240 Patriot Advanced Capability Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors for $1.1 billion.
The Pentagon also says the budget would allow it to develop an additional missile field in Alaska for the GMD and puts it on track to have a total of 64 deployed and operational GMD interceptors by 2023, 20 more than it has now.
The GMD is the system in Alaska and California that would defend against a long-range missile attack such as from North Korea. The system’s most recent test last year was successful, though critics have said it is too costly and has a spotty testing record.
And lastly, we will leave you with David Stockman, the former Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan, who warned that the out of control spending at the United States military will contribute to the coming economic problems in America.
The fact that the US military is “conducting seven wars that we don’t need to have,” said Stockman, is why there are the troubles with the military readiness that warmongering politicians are using to justify further war spending increases.
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