Navy Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) Program: Background and Issues for Congress

The Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) launches a Standard Missile III

as part of an Aegis Intercept Flight Test Round (FTR-1A) mission at the Pacific Missile range.

photo U.S. Navy

by Ronald O'Rourke Specialist in Naval Affairs

Monday, January 24, 2011

The Aegis ballistic missile defense (BMD) program, which is carried out by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the Navy, gives Navy Aegis cruisers and destroyers a capability for conducting BMD operations. Under current MDA and Navy plans, the number of BMD-capable Navy Aegis ships is scheduled to grow from 20 at the end of FY2010 to 38 at the end of FY2015. MDA and Navy plans also call for an increasing portion of the Navy’s BMD-capable Aegis ships to be equipped with newer and more capable versions of the Aegis BMD system.