Missile Defense Agency

MDA marks 20 years of Ground-based Midcourse Defense In support of US Northern Command, members of the Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program have carried out the mission of providing the Warfighter with a reliable, cost-effective capability to protect the U.S. homeland from ballistic missile threats. In January 2002, the White House issued a National Security Presidential Directive for the Department of Defense to deploy an initial homeland defense capability by the end of 2004. As a result of this directive and in record time, the first Ground-based Interceptor (GBI), constructed in Courtland, AL, was delivered to Fort Greely, AK, June 23, 2004. In September 2004, MDA director Lt. Gen. Trey Obering declared a "limited defensive operations" status for homeland missile defense. At the time, this capability consisted of only five Ground-based Interceptors (GBIs) at Ft. Greely and the upgraded Cobra Dane Radar at Eareckson Air Station in Shemya, AK. This operational emplacement marked the beginning of a new era and provided to the United States the ability to defend itself against long-range ballistic missile attacks. Today, the GMD element of the Missile Defense System continues to provide Combatant Commanders the capability to engage and destroy intermediate- and long-range ballistic missile threats in space to protect the United States. Spanning 15 time zones, GMD and its associated systems consist of 44 interceptors in Alaska and California, seven types of land, sea, and space based sensors and multiple fire control systems. Due to our adversaries continued investment in offensive systems, MDA is investing in improvements to the homeland missile defense architecture to include development of the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) and the Long Range Discrimination Radar. Today, MDA and the Department are continuing to upgrade GBIs through the limited and time-bounded Service Life Extension Program while production for NGI ramps up. The strategy includes delivering new capabilities to the Warfighter using a sustainable approach that continues to leverage existing GBI assets. Once fielded, NGI will be capable of defeating expected threat advances into the 2030s and beyond. Of course, the success of our existing and future capabilities depend on the men and women who develop, test, operate, and integrate them in coordination with our allies and partners around the world. These include the Warfighters from the 49th Missile Defense Battalion and the 100th Missile Defense Brigade, as well as the members of the Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense. Together, they keep a watchful eye on the skies and stand ready to defend our Homeland at a moment's notice. While the GMD system has provided a protective layer to our way of life for 20 years, the MDA will remain diligent in providing required upgrades and developing new capabilities for the Warfighter to continue protecting our country.

MDA, in coordination with the Japan Ministry of Defense, will proceed with Northrop Grumman Corporation to continue development of the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI). With this decision, MDA took another step closer toward its goal of delivering a glide-phase layer of regional hypersonic defense. https://lnkd.in/gB4rayvw

Phil Hansen, MDA's program manager for the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor, spoke on Sept. 18 during the second day of the @IDGA Hypersonic Weapons Summit held in Bethesda, Md. Hansen provided an overview of the HBTSS system and its importance to hypersonic tracking and defense.

Today, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency honors the brave men and women who lost their lives during the tragic terrorist attack on our country on September 11, 2001. As our Nation moves further away from that day, we at the Missile Defense Agency will never forget their bravery and sacrifice. #PatriotDay | #NeverForget

U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. Philip A. Garrant, Commander, Space Systems Command, and former Program Executive of MDA's Ground-based Weapons Systems, discusses Ground-based Midcourse Defense and Space Launch Delta 30 with MDA's Charles "Turbo" Griffith during an August 27, 2024 visit to Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.

USS Carl M Levin successfully live fires two Standard Missile 3 Block IA missiles in events 2 and 3 of Pacific Dragon 24 to present an engageable missile defense target for other Aegis assets, August 9, 2024. Participating Aegis assets included USS Kidd, USS Shiloh, DoD partner, AAMDTC, a BTS Lab, as well as JS Haguro, ROKS Yulgok Yi I, ITS Montecuccoli, and HMAS Sydney.

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Tune in to hear Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Heath Collins have a conversation with the Center for Strategic & International Studies about MDA priorities June 6 from 10 to 11:15 a.m. EDT. https://lnkd.in/esbyfV5T

THIS WEEK IN MISSILE DEFENSE HISTORY - May 26, 1972: President Richard Nixon and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, or (SALT I), which included the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The ABM Treaty limited the number of interceptors the U.S. and Soviet Union could have in their arsenal. As a result of the ABM, each was permitted to construct two permanent missile defense locations. (President Richard Nixon is pictured with Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev in 1973.)