Missile Defense Budget Could Open Vulnerabilities
Global Security Newswire
August 13, 2009
The Obama administration’s proposal to emphasize battlefield missile defenses over systems for intercepting strategic ballistic missiles would save the nation money while potentially making it more vulnerable to future attack, says a report published yesterday by a Washington-based defense think tank …
The Defense Department’s $9.3 billion missile defense budget request would slash spending by $1.7 billion — or 16 percent — from the current funding level, Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments analyst Todd Harrison wrote in the report. Still, the missile defense budget remains $4 billion higher than in fiscal 2001, the last funding year settled under the Clinton administration.
Harrison noted particular concern about a proposal to deploy only 30 ground-based interceptors, warning that doing so “with no replacement or replenishment program could result in too few missiles to provide a basic level of protection, especially as these missiles are depleted over time from regular test launches.”
The Pentagon request would decrease funds for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system by 35 percent, providing it with $983 million in the fiscal 2010, the report states. …
The Pentagon requested a total of $668 billion for the next fiscal year, including $130 billion for international military commitments. The poor economic climate and spending in other sectors is likely to limit future expenditures on defense procurement as well as research, development, test and evaluation efforts …
