April 9, 2005 :: Inside Defense :: News
Inside the Pentagon reports on April 7 that the Bush administration is considering the deployment of a limited constellation of space-based kinetic energy interceptors to protect the United States. Plans for such an initial capability, at the cost of some $673 million, are reportedly included in a set of Missile Defense Agency long-term budgetary assessments recently made public. The projects call for a limited capability of 50-100 satellites for a “thin boost/ascent defense against intercontinental range ballistic missiles.” Testing for such a program is reported to possibly begin in 2008 if it were funded by Congress, with possible deployment no sooner than 2016.
Space-based boost-phase interceptors are of course one of the most important elements of a layered missile defense, providing the most technically effective basis from which missiles can be destroyed. The report of plans for testing, however, is sure to provoke sharp criticism by those ideologically opposed to the weaponization of space.
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