April 9, 2003

The U.S. missile defense program "is on track" and "we have the confidence to proceed with plans for an initial defense capability," says Lieutenant General Ronald Kadish, director of the Missile Defense Agency.

In testimony April 9 before the Senate Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee, Kadish said the program has "faced significant technical and management challenges, but through aggressive testing we have proven that hit-to-kill technology works. We have demonstrated system integration through complex system testing."

These tests, he said, combined with analysis of simulations and exercises, "give us confidence ... that we can take the initial steps we are proposing to bolster defenses against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles and introduce a modest defensive capability to defeat a limited long-range threat."

Kadish recalled that last December, President Bush directed the Defense Department to field an initial set of missile defense capabilities "in order to reduce the vulnerabilities of the United States, our troops, and our allies and friends."

Given the successful testing accomplished to date, "I believe we are ready for this," he said. "We plan to begin operating modest land- and sea-defense capabilities in 2004 to provide limited protection of our country as well as our troops and critical assets overseas."

He stressed, however, that this will be a limited system to address a range of missile threats, and that "no fixed, long-term architecture" yet exists. The U.S. capability will evolve and improve over time, he said, "so that what we proposed to field initially in 2004 and 2005 may evolve to look very different a decade later. The number and type of missile defense assets and their locations and basing arrangements may be expected to change to make the system more integrated and capable."

Saying "robust, realistic testing is absolutely critical" to developing an effective missile defense system, Kadish noted that over the past two years "we conducted a total of 55 flight tests and 60 ground tests. Seventeen of these tests were flight-intercept tests. ... Over the next two years we are planning another 68 flight tests, 58 ground tests, and maintaining the same pace of intercept tests as before."

"Our intentions," he said, "are to test the complete system and to be ready to respond to ballistic missile threats against the United States, our deployed forces, and our friends and allies. We have conducted the rigorous testing needed to give us the confidence that we are far enough along to do operationally realistic testing in an integrated way."

Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.