Global War on Terror,  Missile Defense

Missile Defense Watch: “Concept of Operations” To Be Done by Fall

This time-exposure photo made available by the U.S. Department of Defense shows a test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD), held in White Sands, NM, Wednesday, July 12, 2006. THAAD is designed to intercept and destroy short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles high within the Earth’s atmosphere or just above the atmosphere in the final moments before it strikes its target.

Reuters: Missile defense plan seen ready by fall

The U.S. military hopes to complete work this fall on a plan mapping out how regional commanders will be able to use the fledgling U.S. missile defense system, a top general said on Tuesday.

Lt. Gen. Larry Dodgen, commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defend Command, told industry executives and congressional aides he expected the so-called “concept of operations” to be done by October or November.

He said it marked the first time the military had tried to draft such a plan for a specific capability across the military’s regional commands. (emphasis mine)

Well, the Missile Defense Agency and its programs are not fledgling in any sense of the word. Former President Bill Clinton and a Democrat controlled Congress delayed the program by cutting its budget but President George W. Bush has supported, revived and deployed missile defense for the United States. Read about the history of the Strategic Defense Initiative and National Missile Defense.

missiledefensereaganjuly25b

President Reagan Addresses the Nation from the oval office on National Security (Strategic Defense Initiative speech) March 23, 1983.

Dodgen hailed a recent successful test of a missile-shield component built by Lockheed Martin Corp. to shoot down a ballistic missile in the last minute or so of its flight.

The so-called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense weapon system, or THAAD, “exceeded its objectives” in the long-planned test at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, Lockheed said in a statement earlier this month.

Dodgen agreed, saying the THAAD missiles would “pay for themselves many times over.”

He also mentioned plans to deploy missile interceptors in Japan, and said officials were still weighing where to place interceptors in Europe.

THAAD Mobile Launchers

And other parts of national missile defense:

Missile interception by Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI)

Missile Interception by Aegis Ship-Based BMD

And Flap remembers when the LEFTY critics laughed and ridiculed President Reagan for “Star Wars.” Where are those left-wing appeasement-minded MORONS today when these systems may indeed save the United States from a nuclear/chemical or biological attack or worse…….nuclear blackmail?

Stay tuned……

Previous:

Missile Defense Watch: Vandenberg Launches Minuteman III

Missile Defense Watch: White Sands THAAD Test – ” This Is Phenomenal”

Missile Defense Watch: THAAD Successfully Intercepts Live Target


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