REQUESTED FISCAL YEAR 2005: Missile Defense Funding Request Tops $10 Billion

Wade Boese

With the Pentagon starting deployment later this year of the initial elements of a proposed multilayered
missile defense system, the Bush administration is seeking a hike of more than $1 billion for missile defense spending in fiscal year 2005. If approved by Congress, the increase would boost annual missile defense spending to more than $10 billion—an amount roughly double that of four years ago.

Undersecretary of Defense and Comptroller Dov Zakheim disclosed the missile defense spending increase as part of a broader Feb. 2 unveiling of the Department of Defense’s nearly $402 billion budget request. This marks a $22 billion climb over the Pentagon’s fiscal year 2004 request and does not include funding for operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the war on terrorism. Zakheim said the Pentagon would not seek a supplemental budget request to cover those activities before the end of this calendar year but would do so next year.

Missile defense spending is split among several Pentagon entities. The largest portion of the nearly $10.2 billion missile defense package is allocated for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), which oversees most missile defense research and development. The Bush administration is seeking to increase MDA funding from $7.7 billion to $9.1 billion. The Army is slated to get $673 million for the Patriot system, which will include funds to buy 108 new interceptor missiles, and $264.5 million to continue work with Italy and Germany on the Medium Extended Air Defense System. Both Army-funded systems are to defend against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. Roughly $22 million is sought for missile defense construction activities, and $86 million is set aside for missile defense work by the Joint Staff.

In addition to the $10.2 billion of dedicated missile defense funding, the Air Force is asking for $508 million for the troubled Space-Based Infrared System-high program—a proposed satellite constellation that, among other tasks, is supposed to detect global ballistic missile launches. Since its inception, the program’s costs have doubled and its development and deployment schedule has slipped by several years. (See ACT, December 2003.)

Another $239 million is requested to develop defenses against cruise missiles, which, unlike ballistic missiles, are powered throughout their entire flight. Patriot systems successfully destroyed nine enemy missiles during last year’s U.S.-led invasion of Iraq but failed to intercept any Iraqi cruise missiles.

MDA Funding Breakdown

Nearly half of MDA’s $9.1 billion chunk of missile defense funding will be devoted toward intercepting missile warheads as they travel through space. The key elements of this effort are the ground-based midcourse missile defense (GMD) program and the Aegis sea-based system, both of which the Pentagon plans to start deploying later this year. More elements of these two defenses as well as different weapon systems are to be incrementally added over time.

Initial GMD deployment plans call for placing up to six ground-based missile interceptors in Alaska and another four in California by January 2005. MDA is projecting that the first interceptor will be put in its silo this June. These interceptors are intended to protect against long-range ballistic missiles launched from the direction of Northeast Asia.

MDA stated it would recommend that the secretary of defense put the GMD system on alert “as soon as there is a capability to defend against a single intercontinental ballistic missile.”

Also by the end of 2004, MDA is hoping to field up to five sea-based interceptors capable of shooting down short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. Although the number of fielded sea-based interceptors is supposed to double next year, the total will be half as many as previously projected.

MDA has halved its sea-based deployment plans because of a problem with the systems interceptor. Specifically, the agency has experienced problems with the interceptor component known as a kill vehicle, designed to home in on and collide with an enemy warhead. The kill vehicle is unable to maneuver as robustly as intended, and MDA is not planning another test of the sea-based interceptor until at least January 2005. Meanwhile, engineers will work to improve the kill vehicle.

Neither the ground- nor sea-based interceptors have been thoroughly or realistically tested, according to a recent report by the Pentagon’s top official overseeing U.S. weapons testing (see story). The ground-based interceptor, which has not been tested since a Dec. 11, 2002, failure, has a record of five hits and three misses, while the sea-based interceptor has scored four successes in five intercept attempts.

The Bush administration argues that it is unnecessary to wait until weapons are fully tested or developed before fielding them because some capability is better than none.

In addition to the ground- and sea-based interceptor programs, MDA will allocate $938 million for intercepting warheads during their terminal stage, when they are descending toward Earth. All but about $100 million of this amount will support the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

The last THAAD test occurred in the summer of 1999, and the system has been in redesign ever since. Current MDA plans foresee renewed THAAD testing against a realistic target in 2005 and preliminary deployment a year later.

One high-profile program that did not make out as well in this year’s budget request was the Airborne Laser (ABL). Citing “program and schedule uncertainty,” MDA trimmed its ABL funding appeal from roughly $609 million to $474 million.

ABL is a modified Boeing 747 aircraft that is intended to be armed with a powerful laser to destroy missiles during their first few minutes of flight. A couple of years ago, the Pentagon had hoped that one ABL would be available for emergency use as early as this year, but now projections are that a model will not be ready until at least 2006. Program officials have had difficulty mating the laser and aircraft together.

In addition, MDA is asking for $511 million to build a boost-phase interceptor capable of colliding with an enemy missile shortly after its launch. Last year, MDA requested $301 million for the project, but Congress slashed the bid down to $119 million. Both mobile land- and sea-based versions of the new interceptor are envisioned. (See ACT, January/February 2004.)

MDA is also seeking to expand funding to test its various systems better and to aid interceptors in finding their targets. Funding for efforts to build realistic mock warheads and decoys for testing purposes is scheduled to rise from $612 million to $716 million, while the piece of the budget pie for developing and upgrading radars and sensors is to be enlarged by $160 million to $592 million.

In sum, missile defense ranks as the Pentagon’s most expensive weapon system. Other high-cost arms programs in this year’s budget request include the F-22 Raptor ($4.7 billion), the Joint Strike Fighter ($4.5 billion), the C-17 aircraft ($4 billion), and the Aegis destroyer ($3.6 billion).

This graph shows how the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) allocates funds for its major programs. For comparison, figures are provided on how much funding MDA sought in its fiscal year 2004 budget request, how much Congress granted, and what MDA is seeking for fiscal year 2005, which begins Oct. 1. It also reveals which programs the Pentagon is prioritizing and which the MDA is downgrading in importance. For example, MDA’s top priority is the Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) midcourse defense segment, which includes the ground-based midcourse and Aegis sea-based systems that are scheduled for initial deployment this fall. In contrast, MDA scaled back its request for the BMD Boost Defense Segment due to problems with the Airborne Laser. Aside from MDA funding, the Pentagon is seeking an additional $1.6 billion for missile defense-related funding on such systems as the Patriot and Medium Extended Air Defense System to counter short- and medium-range ballistic missiles and the Space-Based Infrared System-high satellite program to detect missile launches.