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Missile Defense

  • News Briefs
    Arms Control Today
    January 14, 2010

    Short updates on a range of topics.
  • Obama Shifts Gears on Missile Defense
    Arms Control Today
    October 5, 2009

    The Obama administration announced Sept. 17 that it will not develop a planned missile interceptor field in Poland and radar facility in the Czech Republic, as envisioned by the Bush administration. Instead, the United States will implement a new missile defense program, designed around the Navy’s Standard Missile-3 (SM-3), to counter short- and medium-range Iranian missiles, according to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. In announcing the change, President Barack Obama said that the new missile defense architecture in Europe “will provide stronger, smarter, and swifter defenses of American forces and America’s allies” than the Bush-era plan.
  • MEDIA ADVISORY: ACA Welcomes Shift to a More Pragmatic U.S. Missile Defense Policy
    Press Room
    September 17, 2009

    Experts from the independent Arms Control Association (ACA) welcomed reports that the Barack Obama administration has decided to shelve the controversial George W. Bush administration proposal to install an untested, ground-based missile interceptor system in Poland and the Czech Republic to counter an as-yet undeveloped Iranian long-range missile threat. The Obama administration has signaled it will instead pursue alternative basing modes and concentrate on better-proven missile interceptor technologies. (Continue)
  • Daryl Kimball Discussing Missile Defense on Russia Today
    Arms Control TV
    September 17, 2009

    On September 17th, Daryl Kimball spoke with Russia Today about President Obama's plans for missile defense.
  • ACA Missile Defense Briefings - Powerpoint by Philip Coyle and Remarks by Greg Thielmann
    ACA Events
    July 28, 2009

    Panelists: Steven Hildreth, Philip E. Coyle III, and Greg Thielmann
  • MDA Tests Laser Amid Budget Cutbacks
    Arms Control Today
    July 2, 2009

    The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency (MDA) last month successfully tested the tracking components of the Airborne Laser (ABL) system, the agency announced June 15. The tests, which took place June 6 and June 13, mark the first time the ABL system successfully detected and tracked a missile in the boost phase. These tests come amid a series of decisions reducing or eliminating the funding for some missile defense programs. (Continue)
  • The National Missile Defense Act of 1999
    Arms Control Today
    July 2, 2009

    The National Missile Defense Act of 1999 was described by its chief sponsor, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), as "the necessary first step to protecting the United States from long-range ballistic missile attack."[1] Indeed, the act constituted an important milestone on the road to U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in 2002, a step that the sponsors of the act advocated. Although the act itself neither authorized any programs nor appropriated any funds, it was misrepresented then and has been misrepresented since as proof of strong congressional support for the urgent and unqualified pursuit of strategic missile defenses. (Continue)
  • Missile Defense Programs in Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010 Budgets
    Arms Control Today
    June 4, 2009

    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. (Continue)
  • Gates Reorienting Missile Defense Programs
    Arms Control Today
    May 8, 2009

    The U.S. missile defense program would be refocused and its overall spending would decline under the Obama administration's fiscal year 2010 budget request, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said April 6. At a press conference, Gates said he intends to reorganize the program around short-range missile defense and efforts to counter "rogue" states. (Continue)
  • GAO Criticizes Missile Defense Programs
    Arms Control Today
    March 31, 2009

    A March Government Accountability Office (GAO) report to Congress found that the U.S. ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) has been subject to cost overruns and vague accounting and failed to achieve any of its six testing objectives for fiscal year 2008, which ended Sept. 30. Nevertheless, several system elements, including 24 upgraded ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) interceptors, are being deployed before being fully tested. (Continue)