We Need the Right Missile Defense, Right Now
I believe in a limited federal government, yet there are several jobs so large and so important that only the federal government can do them. Protecting Americans from the spread of the coronavirus even while searching for an effective vaccine (or vaccines) is certainly one such job.
Equally important, but less reported, is the effort to protect our country from missile attack.
For decades now, the Defense Department has been developing and refining several types of missile defense. A central part of our missile screen is the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) element. It allows the military to engage and potentially destroy limited intermediate- and long-range ballistic missile threats in space.
The GMD is especially effective because it is the only defense that is focused on missiles when they are moving slowly in space. Other missile defense systems which try to stop them as they are plunging back into the atmosphere and closing in on their target. A problem is that, by then, the missiles are usually running cool. Instead of burning fuel, they are using gravity to speed up, and so they are far more difficult to target. We need several layers of missile defense, but especially require GMD to provide coverage for the entire country.
Wise lawmakers understand the stakes. Going all the way back to the George W. Bush administration, they have supported GMD. The first defensive weapons were placed in Alaska in 2004. Throughout that decade, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) tested its systems as it built new facilities. There were setbacks, of course. Hitting a bullet with a bullet in the vastness of space is never going to be easy. But there were also successful tests.
By 2017, “The Defense Department today successfully intercepted an intercontinental ballistic missile target during a test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense element of the nation's ballistic missile defense system,” the Pentagon reported. “The intercept of a complex, threat-representative ICBM target is an incredible accomplishment for the GMD system and a critical milestone for this program,” the Navy officer in charge of GMD noted.
Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that this program doesn’t cost taxpayers much, certainly not by military-spending standards. Writing at Forbes, defense analyst Loren Thompson notes that: “GMD is not expensive. Its entire planned budget for the period 2021-2025 amounts to $10 billion—less than a single day’s worth of federal spending at current rates.” We can afford to fund that while also fighting coronavirus and boosting the rest of the struggling economy.
Of course, there will need to be upgrades to the program. For example, subcontractor Raytheon has overpromised and under delivered when it comes to the “Redesigned Kill Vehicle,” the weapon on the tip of the missile that actually destroys incoming weapons.
The Pentagon has eliminated that part of the program, and should move ahead with other aspects of GMD even while rebidding for an RKV. A different contractor can deliver a better warhead. For now, the existing kill vehicles are sufficient.
It makes sense that, even as they discussed ways to respond to coronavirus, senators were also looking to invest in missile defense this summer. They included some $200 million for Ground-based Midcourse Defense in a coronavirus response bill this summer.
For political reasons, that bill is on hold. But lawmakers are expected to pass a Continuing Resolution, to keep the federal government running at today’s rate of spending, even after the federal fiscal year ends on September 30.
In the big picture, lawmakers should boost spending on GMD. If they can’t agree to that ahead of November’s elections, lawmakers must at least commit to holding the line and keeping funding flowing at this year’s rate.
The United States has enemies and threats beyond the coronavirus. GMD is a key part of protecting us from those threats. We need it now, even more than ever.
Jerry Rogers is the founder of Capitol Allies and the host of “The Jerry Rogers Show” on WBAL NewsRadio. Twitter: @CapitolAllies.
