Missile Defense: Status of the National Missile Defense Program
Abstract
The Department of Defense is developing a National Missile Defense system to protect the United States against a ballistic missile attack with weapons of mass destruction from "rogue" nations such as North Korea and Iran. Following a departmental review by the end of July 2000, the administration plans to decide on whether to deploy the system. Factors in this decision are likely to include the severity of the threat, the maturity of the technology involved, and affordability. The deployment decision is among the most important defense issues facing the nation this year The National Missile Defense system, when fully deployed, would include (1) space-and ground-based sensors to provide early warning of attacking missiles and to initially identify and track them; (2) ground-based radars to further identify and track the threatening warheads and assess whether the system destroyed the warheads; (3) ground-based interceptors, each consisting of a three-stage booster and payload (called a kill vehicle) capable of guiding itself to collide with and destroy incoming warheads (a concept called hit-to-kill) outside the atmosphere; and (4) a battle management, command, control, and communications system.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA378473
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office