Guam Missile Defense System Receives Go-Ahead

October 2025

The Missile Defense Agency and the U.S. Army will proceed with plans to deploy an expanded $8 billion missile defense network at 16 sites on the U.S. territory of Guam, following completion and publication in July of an environmental impact statement.

The network, known as the Enhanced Integrated Air and Missile Defense system (EIAMD), will “enable MDA and the U.S. Army to meet their congressional mandate for a persistent 360-degree layered integrated air and missile defense capability on Guam to address the rapid evolution of missile threats from regional adversaries,” the agency said in a Sept. 8 announcement.

The system will incorporate a ground-based variant of the Navy’s Aegis missile defense system, including the Mark 41 launcher and the Standard Missile 3 and Standard Missile 6 interceptors. According to the environmental impact statement, the Pentagon is considering deploying six potential radar systems as part of the network, including the AN/TPY-6 S-band radar for tracking and intercepting ballistic missiles.

The environmental impact statement found that current plans will have a significant impact on housing availability and access to healthcare on the island territory. It estimates that 10 years of planned construction will require 400 workers, and that 2,300 permanent military and civilian personnel will be required to staff the network.

“I am not satisfied that the cumulative impacts that we have identified and provided to MDA during the [environmental impact statement] commenting period have been addressed,” Governor Lou Leon Guerrero of Guam said in a Sept. 10 statement.

“Let me be clear: there is no national security without human security—without hospitals that heal, schools that teach, utilities that sustain, cyber systems that defend, and homes and jobs that keep families safe,” she added at the Sept. 17 Guam Defense Forum.—LIPI SHETTY