December 18, 2002

Senior defense officials say the limited missile defense system to be fielded by the United States beginning in 2004 "is intended to be very responsive to the demands of [today's] dynamic and unpredictable security environment," but is not "a fixed or final architecture of any kind."

"It integrates new technologies, and our hope is to continue to improve these capabilities," and to augment them, said J.D. Crouch, assistant secretary of defense for international security.

This is "a very modest initial interceptor inventory, and an investment that provides a useful defense capability, but one that has limitations ... and we want to be very clear about that," he said. "It allows us to field some capability quickly, employing test assets as we go along, but without making a commitment to serial production and very large-scale investments."

Crouch and Lieutenant General Ronald Kadish, director of the Missile Defense Agency, briefed reporters at the Pentagon December 17 shortly after President Bush announced the limited missile defense deployment.

Under the plan, which must be funded by Congress, the Defense Department would field a total of 10 ground-based interceptors at Fort Greeley, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, in 2004, and an additional 10 interceptors at Fort Greeley in 2005, to defend against long-range missiles. Short- and medium-range missile threats would be countered with upgraded versions of the Patriot missiles used in the Persian Gulf war. In addition, 10-20 sea-based interceptors would be placed on Aegis-equipped Navy cruisers and destroyers.

Kadish said the Defense Department will ask Congress to "add about $1.5 billion ($1,500 million) to our budget to get this job done over the next two years." This will be in addition to the approximately $8 billion ($8,000 million) that Congress has appropriated each year for the past two years to fund the "very aggressive" missile defense flight test program, he said.

The plan will utilize forward-deployed radars "that will enhance the performance of our interceptors," Crouch said, adding that the United States has "officially requested [permission] from the governments of the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Denmark for use of early-warning radars on their territory. We've requested that those radars be upgraded" and have offered to invest "to upgrade those radars."

Crouch stressed the importance of securing allied cooperation on the program.

"One of the things that characterizes our approach on missile defense, as distinct from prior approaches, is that this is not focused on a national missile defense. It is a defense that is designed to develop capabilities that will protect our friends, our allies, our deployed forces, as well as the United States," he said, adding that this will be done "on a bilateral basis, ... in the context of our alliance commitments, and ... from the standpoint of our industrial relationships with countries abroad."

Kadish said the Defense Department is "confident to proceed in this initial capability" because "our fundamental technology of hit-to-kill, collision of the interceptor with the warheads that completely destroys the warheads, works."

"The system testing that we have done gives us confidence that we have the ability to integrate these elements, as complex as they are, and to make them effective. And our computer predictions, which are very sophisticated, are telling us that when we do have a successful test, it occurs just as we had predicted."