Missile Defense Programs in Fiscal Years 2009 and 2010 Budgets

The fiscal year 2010 Department of Defense budget request, released in May, provides additional detail on the Obama administration's refocusing of U.S. missile defense efforts. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates outlined the reorientation at an April 6 press conference. (See ACT, May 2009.) The revised approach emphasizes terminal-phase missile defense programs over midcourse and boost-phase ones. The following table compares major missile defense programs in the fiscal year 2010 request with requests and appropriations from fiscal year 2009.

	FY 2009 Request	FY 2009 Appropriation	FY 2010 Request	Percent Change in Requests
	thousand dollars
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense	1,157,783	1,113,655	1,690,758	46
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense	864,899	753,189	665,455	-23
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense	2,076,662	1,507,481	982,922	-53
Airborne Laser	421,229	400,751	186,697	-56
Kinetic Energy Interceptor	386,817	385,493	0	-100
Multiple Kill Vehicle	354,455	283,481	0	-100
Sources: Fiscal years 2009 and 2010 Missile Defense Agency budget justifications, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense (Comptroller) Web site.

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