Lawmakers balk at MDA's priority homeland defense 'underlay' project

摘要

A Missile Defense Agency signature project - adding two "layers" to the homeland ballistic missile defense architecture by folding in the newest Aegis ballistic missile interceptor and a future variant of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptor - is on the ropes after lawmakers raised serious concern about the endeavor's maturity. The Senate Appropriations Committee, in its mark of the fiscal year 2021 defense spending bill, recommends provisions that would effectively defund MDA's request to immediately press ahead with the project to develop a new homeland defense underlayer. The legislation would grant resources for "limited concept studies" only. In February, MDA proposed adding two "layers" beneath the current defense shield - a new Terminal High Altitude Area Defense homeland defense capability to work in concert with the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA - as part of a major reconfiguration of plans to protect the nation from North Korean ballistic missiles which also includes the new Next Generation Interceptor program. This new, "layered" homeland defense architecture was conceived as a hedge against anticipated North Korean missile advances in the mid-2020s that are forecasted to materialize before the new NGI. MDA hatched the new interceptor project in late 2019 after terminating the Redesigned Kill Vehicle, a project that was previously central to the agency's plans to modernize the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system.