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U.S. missile defense program seen as casualty of Sept. 11

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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