Free Republic

Thrifty Lefties?: Media fret over missile defense waste by Daniel Clark In reaction to David Willman’s April 4th Los Angeles Times article, the media have expressed alarm over wasteful missile defense spending. The report, which the Pentagon disputes, says that several failed initiatives have cost the taxpayers $10 billion over ten years. Although this only represents about one-eighth of the Missile Defense Agency budget, liberals have seized upon it to claim that our entire missile defense system is a boondoggle. There are good reasons to be skeptical of the Times report. For one, it describes the Sea-Based X-Band Radar system...

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he has ordered the deployment of a new missile defense system and a sophisticated tracking radar to respond to any North Korean missile launch that threatens Hawaii. Meanwhile, America's top military officer says the U.S. Navy is prepared to try to stop North Korean ships suspected of carrying weapons banned by a new United Nations Security Council resolution. Secretary Gates says the United States is watching North Korea's missile launch preparations "very closely" and he has ordered a new high-altitude missile interceptor system deployed to Hawaii, along with a floating radar system to provide...

Lt. Gen. Henry “Trey” Obering, Missile Defense Agency director, today announced the successful execution of an important test involving the tracking of a long-range target missile by radars that are being incorporated into the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). The target missile was launched today from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. at 9:27 pm PDT March 20 (12:27 am EDT March 21). The target was successfully tracked by the Sea-Based X-band (SBX) radar and two Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ships using onboard SPY-1 radar. The Missile Defense Agency is developing and deploying an extensive network of land and sea-based radars...

Ballistic missile defense has undergone fundamental changes over the past few months. Global politics, technology, budgets and inter-service rivalries are all playing their part in shaping the new landscape. Some-where in this mixture are the needs of the military forces and civilian populations that face an increasing threat, writes Mark Hewish In a series of recent interlinked moves, the US has reshuffled the cards in its ballistic missile defense (BMD) pack. The outcome is still uncertain, with shifts in direction occurring almost daily. In January 2002, the country's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) was redesignated the Missile Defense Agency (MDA)....