U.S. missile defense program seen as casualty of Sept. 11
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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, November 26, 2001
WASHINGTON Ñ The Bush administration is expected to quietly shift
its focus from a national missile defense system to a tactical boost-phased
system meant to respond to regional threats.
Congressional sources and government defense sources said the Islamic
suicide attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11 and the ensuring war
in Afghanistan have led to a shift in priorities in the administration. They
said they the administration will continue national missile defense testing
but delay funding for deployment of such a system.
"There is simply no money for at least the next year," a senior
congressional staffer who deals with the defense budget said. "Right now,
the NMD concept is dead in terms of funding."
The defense sources said they expect the administration to slowly move
toward the development of regional defense that would destroy missiles in
their initial boost phase. The system would include unmanned air vehicles
and laser weapons and integrate a range of systems.
"Missile defense becomes just missile defense," BMDO spokesman Rick
Lehner said. "It's not national missile defense. It's not theater missile
defense. It's just missile defense."
Earlier this month, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization met
executives from Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop
Grumman, TRW and Raytheon and urged them to cooperate and integrate missile
defense systems. BMDO director Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish gave the companies
until the end of the year to submit plans.
Congressional sources said the national missile defense system is
plagued by cost overruns. One such program is the Space-Based Infrared
System-High, developed by Lockheed Martin and running way over cost and well
behind schedule. This is an early-warning system to detect whether an attack
had been launched against the United States.
The result is that defense contractors are being urged to reduce costs
and stay within budget. Last week, more than 100 representatives of the
defense, aerospace, and intelligence communities convened at a missile
defense summit outside Washington to learn how commercial off-the-shelf
software can reduce costs.
"Missile defense is one of the highest, if not the highest, priority of
this administration and this Congress," Rep. Curt Weldon, chairman of the
Armed Services Procurement Subcommittee, told the contractors. "All of you
here today hold the keys to that success."
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