05.30.17

Sullivan Applauds Successful Missile Defense Test

WASILLA, AK – U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement regarding the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) latest intercept test – Flight Test Ground-based Interceptor (FTG)-15 – of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile-class (ICBM-class) target.   

“This test clearly demonstrates to our adversaries that our homeland missile defense system remains on track to defend our country,” said Senator Sullivan. “Today is an important day for our nation’s missile defenders, our scientists and engineers, and the American people. This successful intercept test of an ICBM-like target sends a clear message to the unstable dictator in North Korea that the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System can and will shoot down any ballistic missile threat that endangers the American people.  

“While I am thankful this test was a success and I look forward to the emplacement of the remaining GBIs at Fort Greely, we need to do more to ensure that our missile defense system continues to advance ahead of the rapidly increasing North Korean threat. The strong bipartisan bill I introduced last week in the U.S. Senate will do just that.” 

Senator Sullivan is an outspoken advocate for bolstering the nation’s missile defense. To counter the threat of North Korea, Senator Sullivan last week introduced the bipartisan S. 1196 Advancing America’s Missile Defense (AAMD) Act to advance the U.S. missile defense program.  

The bipartisan AAMD Act would do the following:

  • Authorize the procurement of an additional 28 interceptors, and require our military to look at having up to 100 interceptors distributed across the U.S.
  • Authorize the more rapid development of new and better kill vehicles—the “bullets” that intercept warheads in space—and a layer of space-based radars to track missile threats from launch to intercept, a technological advancement that would improve all missile systems.
  • Push to better integrate our current and future ground-based radars that allow the U.S.—both independently and in concert with space-based capabilities—to “picture” an incoming missile with incredible detail and precisely target it for intercept.
  • Increase the pace of missile defense testing to allow U.S. forces to learn from actual launches of our defenses and increase confidence in the effectiveness of the system.

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