Key lawmaker warns RKV termination could leave U.S. vulnerable

摘要

One of the Senate's most vocal missile defense proponents said he was blindsided by the Pentagon's decision in August to terminate the Redesigned Kill Vehicle and raised concern the replacement program - the new-start Next Generation Interceptor ～ could take so long to develop and field it will leave the United States vulnerable to North Korean threats. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) — who represents a state that hosts the bulk of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense Systems' interceptor fleet ～ further said schedule estimates for fielding the new interceptor "are all over the map" and could take as long as a decade. Sullivan's comments came during a Senate Armed Services Committee nomination hearing for Vice Adm. Charles Richard to be head of U.S. Strategic Command. "I wasn't given any notice," Sullivan said, voicing discontentment with the handling of the August decision by Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin to scrap the RKV program. "And I focus on this issue as much as anyone in the Congress."