A new assessment report shows the Pentagon is advancing missile defense for the U.S., with the military now capable of deterring certain attacks from North Korea or Iran, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
The annual report from Robert Behler, director of operational testing at the Department of Defense, highlights the improved capability of DoD’s $180B network of ground- and sea-based missile interceptors, sensors and communications. Behler said the system can protect the U.S. mainland or troops abroad from “a small number†of intermediate-range and intercontinental ballistic missile threats.
DoD has increased its defense system with 44 ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California and a new set of Army radar, Thaad missile batteries and Aegis-class anti-missile vessels. Boeing manages the system that uses Raytheon-built interceptor missiles that the Missile Defense Agency plans to test in March.
DoD wants to build a more extensive defense system in the future, which might include new space-based interceptors, low-orbit early-warning and missile-tracking satellites, laser-firing drones and F-35s.
