Missile Defense Agency FY15 Budget Overview

March 5, 2014 defense-aerospace.com

(Source: Missile Defense Agency; issued March 4, 2014)

Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Overview

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is requesting $7.459 billion in FY 2015 to develop and deploy interceptors, sensors, and command and control, battle management and communications (C2BMC) systems that constitute the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) to provide U.S. homeland defense and regional missile defense for deployed forces, allies, and friends.

The Agency is requesting a total of $37.575 billion from FY 2015 to FY 2019, the period of the Future Years Defense Program (FYDP).

The budget protects previously established homeland and regional defense priorities. For Homeland Defense, in response to recent threat developments, the Department increased the planned number of fielded Ground Based Interceptors (GBIs) by 14. MDA will maintain our commitment to build out homeland defenses to 44 GBIs by 2017. In addition we will execute a return to intercept flight test in the third quarter 2014. The focus of the test will be on Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system reliability and GBI performance.

Last year MDA began refurbishment of Missile Field 1 at Fort Greely, Alaska (FGA) to develop silo capacity to support emplacement of additional GBIs. We continue to emplace GBIs in Missile Field 2 (MF2), conduct GBI component testing, and refurbish currently deployed GBIs to test and improve their reliability.

MDA will continue to acquire GBIs to support GMD operations, testing, and spares and emplace GBIs in MF2 as we progress towards 44 by the end of 2017. MDA continues to fund operations and sustainment of the GMD weapon system with Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide funds.

MDA will take additional steps to keep pace with the threats to the U.S. homeland. We have requested $99.5 million to initiate the redesign of the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) for GMD. The redesigned EKV will be built with a modular, open architecture and designed with common interfaces and standards, making upgrades easier and broadening our vendor and supplier base.

The redesigned EKV will increase performance to address the evolving threat; improve reliability, availability, maintainability, testability and producibility; and increase in-flight communications to improve usage of off-board sensors information and situational awareness to combatant commanders for enabling new tactics such as shoot-assess-shoot.

The budget also requests $79.5 million to begin development of a Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR). The new LRDR is a mid-course tracking radar that will provide persistent sensor coverage and improve discrimination capabilities against threats to the homeland from the Pacific theater. This new radar also will give the Sea-Based X-band (SBX) radar more geographic deployment flexibility for contingency and test use.

We are also requesting $122 million for Discrimination Improvements for Homeland Defense (DIHD). This investment will develop and field an integrated set of Element capabilities to improve BMDS engagement reliability, lethality, and discrimination. The combined effects of these investments will be a deployed BMDS architecture more capable of discriminating and killing a reentry vehicle with a high degree of confidence that will dramatically improve BMD System capability and Warfighter shot doctrine while preserving inventory.

For Regional Missile Defense, MDA will continue to focus on threats from Asia-Pacific and the Middle East as we continue to support the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA) to protect our European NATO allies and deployed forces from ballistic missile attacks. The Department met its objectives for EPAA Phase 1 by deploying Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) ships in the Mediterranean Sea, a land-based radar in Turkey, and Command, Control, Battle Management, and Communications system node at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany in 2011.

The next two EPAA phases (Phases 2 and 3) include additional Aegis BMD ships (2014-2015) and Aegis Ashore in Romania in 2015 and in Poland in 2018. Aegis Ashore will be capable of launching Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IA, IB, and IIA (delivery in 2018) variants.

Our goal in EPAA Phase 2 is to provide robust capability against Short Range Ballistic Missiles (SRBMs) and Medium Range Ballistic Missiles (MRBMs) by ensuring the system provides multiple opportunities to engage each threat missile in flight. The architecture includes the deployment of the Aegis BMD 4.0 and 5.0 weapon systems with SM-3 Block IBs at sea and at an Aegis Ashore site in Romania. The Romania site is on schedule to be available in 2015.

In support of EPAA Phase 3, the SM-3 Block IIA, which we are co-developing with the Japanese government, and an upgraded version of the Aegis Weapons System are on schedule for deployment in 2018 at the Aegis Ashore sites in Poland and Romania and at sea. The upgraded Aegis Weapons System combined with the faster, longer reaching SM-3 IIA will provide capability to counter more sophisticated threats when compared to the SM-3 IA and IB and will extend coverage to NATO allies in Europe threatened by longer range ballistic missiles.

The MDA is requesting $435 million to procure 30 Aegis SM-3 Block IB missiles in FY 2015, for a total of 332 SM-3 Block IB missiles. MDA requests $68.9 million for advance procurement for four long lead items associated with the FY 2016 SM-3 Block IB missile buy to ensure timely delivery to the Combatant Commander. These items include: 1) MK 104 Dual Thrust Rocket Motor, 2) MK 72 Boosters, 3) Integrated Dewar Assemblies and 4) Circuit Card assemblies.

For FY 2015, the MDA is requesting $464 million for THAAD procurement, which includes the purchase of 31 THAAD interceptors. This puts us on a path for an additional THAAD battery, based on warfighter demand and operational need. We will continue to enhance THAAD’s ability to operate through post-intercept debris, enable launch of THAAD’s interceptors using sensor data provided by other BMDS sensors, and maintain capability against current and evolving threats.

We will also deploy a second forward-based X-band AN/TPY-2 radar in Japan, improving homeland and regional defense capabilities and increasing our global operational AN/TPY-2 radar posture, and we will build and improve the C2BMC infrastructure at fielded sites.

In addition to continuing the enhancement of global BMD survivable communications and support for operations and sustainment of C2BMC at fielded sites, in FY 2015 we will integrate Overhead Persistent Infrared data into C2BMC to support cueing of BMD sensors worldwide. We will also improve sensor data integration and battle management in C2BMC to support Aegis BMD cueing and launch-on and engage-on remote capability.

We are developing fiscally sustainable advanced BMD technologies that can be integrated into the BMDS to adapt to threat changes. Our investments are focused on technology that brings upgradeable capability to the warfighter. Our advanced technology investments are determined by systems engineering, which permits us to evaluate and determine which emerging technical solutions will best address gaps in the BMDS and enhance overall BMDS capability and performance. The goals of our investments are to deploy a future BMDS architecture more capable of discriminating and intercepting the reentry vehicle with a high degree of confidence, and to allow warfighters to dramatically improve their shot doctrine.

This budget continues MDA’s longstanding commitment in support of Israeli defensive efforts to include the development of the David’s Sling Weapon System (DSWS), Upper Tier Interceptor (UTI), Arrow Weapon System Improvements, and procurement of the Iron Dome Weapon System (IDWS). MDA is working with the Israel Missile Defense Organization (IMDO) on these programs to include the delivery of Iron Dome batteries and interceptors and long lead item procurements for (DSWS) and (UTI).

Working collaboratively with independent testers and the Services, MDA follows an Integrated Master Test Plan and continues a flight test program using operationally realistic conditions to demonstrate BMD capabilities against current and emerging threats. Robust testing demonstrates BMDS capability while further enhancing war fighter confidence in the performance of the BMDS.

The FY 2015 budget balances capabilities and risks to: deter aggression, protect the interests of the United States and its allies, respond to warfighter requirements, and pursue cost- and operationally-effective capabilities against future threats. To advance the Administration’s missile defense priorities, the FY 2015 MDA’s request for BMD programs is $7.459 billion.


Click here for the FY2015 Appropriations Summary (1 PDF page)