NORAD Commander “Extremely Concerned” About U.S. Missile Defense Capacity
Gen. VanHerck warns cutting NGI funding would “reduce” America’s ability to defend against rogue missile threats
WASHINGTON—The Commander of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), General Glen D. VanHerck, yesterday expressed concern about the nation’s capacity to defend itself against a nuclear missile attack from a rogue threat, like North Korea, in the coming decade. Gen. VanHerck acknowledged that reducing the budget for the next generation interceptor (NGI) program—the replacement for the existing ground-based interceptor (GBI) technology—could weaken the capability of America’s homeland missile defense system. U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a leading advocate for funding, development and modernization of the U.S. homeland missile defense system, posed the question in a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) following press reports that the Biden administration’s Department of Defense is considering cutting funding for the NGI program.
Sen. Sullivan began his questioning by noting that Fort Greely, a critical missile defense installation in Alaska that would be responsible for defending the American homeland from a North Korean missile attack, currently has 20 unfilled interceptor missile silos, and the Pentagon has no plan to fill them in the near-term.
“Right now, we have twenty empty silos at Fort Greely, which makes no sense,” said Sen. Sullivan. “Some estimates are it's going to be ten years before we have missiles in there…Why in the world aren't we filling those silos as soon as possible?”
“Senator, my goal would be to have additional capability and capacity as soon as possible,” answered Gen. VanHerck. “I remain extremely concerned about the capacity of the ballistic missile defense system going forward.”
Sen. Sullivan then focused his questions on the NGI program, proposed to meet the increasing capabilities and range of the missile threat from North Korea.
“Would the risks increase if we cut the NGI program?” asked Sen. Sullivan.
“In my opinion, cutting that would reduce our capability to defend against increased capacity and capability of any threats,” replied Gen. VanHerck.
Sen. Sullivan helped secure $200 million in the omnibus government funding bill, signed into law in December of 2020, for the development of the NGI program, and $250 million for a service life extension program for the GBIs at Fort Greely. Additionally, in the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Sullivan included a provision mandating the Department of Defense to robustly invest in an “interim” GBI solution to add both capability and capacity to the ground-based midcourse defense system by 2026—before the NGI program, which is not expected to reach completion until 2030 at the earliest.
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