National Missile Defense - Your Army Protecting Our Homeland
Abstract
Next summer, our nation's leadership will make a critical defense decision that will affect our defense posture well into the next millennium. After fifty years of research and development of ballistic missiles and missile defense systems, and many aborted attempts to field systems designed to provide a limited missile defense for the homeland, our nation's leadership will decide whether or not to deploy a national missile defense (NMD) system to meet the growing threat to the homeland from ballistic missile attack. If the President decides to deploy, a limited NMD system with ground-based elements manned by the Army could be operational in 2005. A historical perspective. The defense of the United States is and always has been a soldier's most sacred responsibility. From the beginning, in 1775, the U.S. Army has played a pivotal role in the defense of the homeland. In 1794 the U.S. Congress charged the Army to build and staff coastal defense forts. As the threat changed from big-gunned ships to bomb-laden aircraft, the Army changed the focus of its defense from coastal forts to antiaircraft installations around American cities. In World War II, advances in missile technology allowed the threat to surpass existing defensive capabilities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA382567
Entities
Organizations
- Association of the United States Army