The fiscal year 2010 Department of Defense budget request, released in May, provides additional detail on the Obama administration's refocusing of U.S. missile defense efforts. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates outlined the reorientation at an April 6 press conference. (See ACT, May 2009.) The revised approach emphasizes terminal-phase missile defense programs over midcourse and boost-phase ones. The following table compares major missile defense programs in the fiscal year 2010 request with requests and appropriations from fiscal year 2009.
|
FY 2009 Request |
FY 2009 Appropriation |
FY 2010 Request |
Percent Change in Requests |
|
|
thousand dollars |
||||
|
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense |
1,157,783 |
1,113,655 |
1,690,758 |
46 |
|
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense |
864,899 |
753,189 |
665,455 |
-23 |
|
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense |
2,076,662 |
1,507,481 |
982,922 |
-53 |
|
Airborne Laser |
421,229 |
400,751 |
186,697 |
-56 |
|
Kinetic Energy Interceptor |
386,817 |
385,493 |
0 |
-100 |
|
Multiple Kill Vehicle |
354,455 |
283,481 |
0 |
-100 |
|
Sources: Fiscal years 2009 and 2010 Missile Defense Agency budget justifications, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller) Web site. |
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