Missile Defense Funds & the Budget Squeeze

August 15, 2012 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Leah Fae Cochran

Who picks up the tab? - The Missile Defense Agency could find itself in a budget squeeze as Pentagon budgets tighten while the Army and Navy demand more interceptors but refuse to pay for them.

--“The maturity of the Thaad and SM-3 programs is prompting regional commanders to argue for fielding them. Traditionally, the MDA has developed a system and then handed it off to the appropriate service once it is proven. The Navy and Army, however, have not assumed responsibility for buying Thaad and SM-3s, respectively, leaving the MDA with a growing bill,” writes Amy Butler for Aviation Week. http://bit.ly/R2diIh

View from Huntsville conference - “The combatant commanders can't get enough of these systems," said Rear Adm. Randall Hendrickson, deputy director of the Missile Defense Agency at an annual Space and Missile Defense Conference. Full article from The Huntsville Times: “Missile defense remains priority in plans to reduce military's size, spending, say officials.”

--”In a few months there will be a flight test over the Pacific that will integrate targets and layers of defense systems to counter them, including the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ships, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense - or THAAD - missiles, advanced radars, and Army Patriot missiles.” http://bit.ly/MyBf9F

View from the contractor - “Lockheed sees more Mideast missile-defense demand” in Reuters. http://reut.rs/NBdkEd

Still room - Counter to the escalating rhetoric from Israeli decision-makers, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta reassured Americans that Israel has not yet decided whether to attack Iran."The reality is that we still think there is room to continue to negotiate,” said Sec. Panetta at a press conference yesterday. AFP has the story. http://bit.ly/MyfaYA

”Very seriously” - Colin Kahl, former policy advisor on the Middle East for the Obama administration, said that he doesn’t dismiss Israeli threats on striking Iran, in an interview with Al-Monitor’s Lara Rozen.

--“I think it is more likely Israeli leaders are preparing the Israeli public for a strike, and creating a narrative for the international community that diplomacy and sanctions have failed and thus Israel has no choice,” Kahl said. “There is clearly a crescendo emerging, and there is a lot of detailed, point-by-point argumentation …laying the foundation for a potential strike.” http://bit.ly/NAVbYS

Skeptical on Israeli strike - “Every few months there is a concocted ‘crisis’ involving suggestions that Israel is just on the verge of attacking Iran,” writes Professor Gary Sick. Now such crises are growing more shrill, yet “virtually the entire Israeli security establishment came out in opposition to such an operation.” The likelihood that a strike on Iran would harm Israel’s interests and the political context around the current iteration of the Israel-Iran crisis has Gary Sick skeptical that Israel will actually strike Iran. Full post here. http://bit.ly/Pn7Q3l

Welcome to Early Warning - Subscribe to our morning email or follow us on twitter.

--Have a tip? Email earlywarning@ploughshares.org. Want to support this work? Click here.

Tweet - @ArmsControlNow: Spurgeon M. Keeny Jr., arms control practitioner, advocate for more than half a century has died. We'll miss our friend & fmr ACA director.

Another reactor - Recent satellite photos reveal that North Korea is nearing the end of construction on a new light water reactor, estimated by the Institute for Science and International Security to be completed in 2013, sooner than previous estimates. The reactor could be used to produce weapons-grade plutonium, although North Korea says it is for civilian purposes. AFP has the story. http://bit.ly/MvMYWw

Read the full report here. (pdf) http://bit.ly/PhOHOJ

Tweet - @DangerRoom: Bad news for the USAF's mach 5 missile. X-51A failed its flight test; a fin problem caused a loss of control b4 the engine could kick in.

Skydivers at Kings Bay - Two skydivers were blown off course an accidentally landed on a baseball field at the ballistic missile submarine base in Kings Bay, Georgia. “They definitely don't want people landing on their military installation. They were very stern with us,” said the owner of the skydiving company. Global Security Newswire has the story. http://bit.ly/RgkbIl

--Here’s a Google Map showing the Skydivers’ intended landing spot and where they actually ended up. Looks like they had a heck of a view of the warhead storage bunkers half a mile to their east. http://bit.ly/PcJ4St