II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1196 

To expand the capacity and capability of the ballistic missile defense system 

of the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 22, 2017 

Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. PETERS, Mr. COTTON, Mr. MANCHIN, Mrs. CAPITO, and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Armed Services 

A BILL 

To expand the capacity and capability of the ballistic missile 

defense system of the United States, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advancing America’s 

5 Missile Defense Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON CURRENT STATE OF 

2 UNITED STATES MISSILE DEFENSE, FUTURE 

3 INVESTMENT, AND ACCELERATING CAPABILI4 TIES TO OUTPACE CURRENT THREATS. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find6 ings: 

7 (1) According to the Commander of United 

8 States Northern Command, General Lori Robinson, 

9 the ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) element 

10 of the ballistic missile defense system ‘‘defend[s] the 

11 homeland against a limited long-range ballistic mis12 sile attack’’ and ‘‘is designed to intercept incoming 

13 threats in the midcourse phase of flight.’’. 

14 (2) Spanning 15 time zones, the ground-based 

15 midcourse defense element of the ballistic missile de16 fense system and its associated elements represents 

17 the only system currently capable of defeating an 

18 adversary’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) 

19 in the midcourse segment of flight. 

20 (3) Terminal High Altitude Area Defense 

21 (THAAD) is a United States Army weapon system 

22 that is transportable, globally deployable, and capa23 ble of defeating ballistic missiles inside or outside 

24 the atmosphere during a missile’s terminal phase of 

25 flight. 


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1 (4) In response to the aggressive behavior of 

2 North Korea, the United States initially deployed a 

3 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery to the 

4 United States territory of Guam in April of 2013, 

5 made that deployment permanent in July of 2015, 

6 and began to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area 

7 Defense battery to South Korea in March of 2017. 

8 (5) Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense is the naval 

9 component of the ballistic missile defense system ca10 pable of defeating short-to-intermediate-range, mid11 course-phase, ballistic missile threats and short12 range ballistic missiles in the terminal phase. 

13 (6) The Navy currently has 33 Aegis Ballistic 

14 Missile Defense combatants, 5 cruisers (CGs) and 

15 28 destroyers (DDGs), and will add an additional 

16 ballistic missile defense-capable destroyer by the end 

17 of fiscal year 2017. 

18 (7) Aegis Ashore is the land-based component 

19 of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system and is 

20 currently capable of defeating short- to intermediate21 range ballistic missile threats. 

22 (8) In 2015, the United States deployed the 

23 first Aegis Ashore unit to Romania, and in 2018, 

24 the United States plans to deploy an Aegis Ashore 

25 unit to Poland. 


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1 (9) The current leader of North Korea, Kim 

2 Jong-un, has threatened a ‘‘preemptive nuclear 

3 strike’’ against the United States and has publicly 

4 stated that North Korea ‘‘can tip new-type inter5 continental ballistic rockets with more powerful nu6 clear warheads’’ capable of ranging the United 

7 States mainland. 

8 (10) Kim Jong-un has rapidly increased the ca9 dence of nuclear and ballistic missile testing. 

10 (11) North Korea’s testing is steadily pro11 gressing toward their stated goal and has achieved 

12 some notable successes, including its first sub13 marine-launched ballistic missile in 2016 and its 

14 first solid-fueled, medium-range ballistic missile in 

15 early 2017. 

16 (12) According to General John E. Hyten, 

17 Commander of United States Strategic Command, 

18 during a hearing of the Committee on Armed Serv19 ices of the Senate on February 11, 2017, ‘‘the North 

20 Koreans launched a new solid, medium-range bal21 listic missile . . . A solid rocket [that] can be rolled 

22 out and launched at a moment’s notice.’’. 

23 (13) General Hyten further testified that the 

24 February 11th test also ‘‘showed a new technology 

25 [and] a new North Korean capability . . . [The 


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1 North Koreans] moved what was demonstrated at 

2 sea onto land, onto a new launcher, and did it in a 

3 very quick way.’’. 

4 (14) On May 14, 2017, North Korea launched 

5 a new missile, reported as a Hwasong-12, that re6 portedly flew a highly lofted trajectory reaching an 

7 altitude of over 2,000 kilometers and traveling more 

8 than 700 kilometers in distance before falling into 

9 the East Sea. 

10 (15) Several senior officials at the Department 

11 of Defense have publicly stated their belief that, due 

12 to the new pace of North Korean missile testing, it 

13 is no longer a matter of if North Korea gets the ca14 pability to threaten the contiguous United States 

15 with a nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile, but 

16 when North Korea will achieve that capability. 

17 (16) During the past six years, under the re18 gime of Kim Jong-un, North Korea has conducted 

19 approximately 80 ballistic missile and three nuclear 

20 tests. 

21 (17) During the same span of six years, the 

22 Missile Defense Agency, due to funding reductions, 

23 budget uncertainty, and a risk-averse testing cul24 ture, has only conducted four flight tests of the 


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1 ground-based midcourse defense element of the bal2 listic missile defense system. 

3 (18) Since 2006 and adjusted for inflation, 

4 funding for the Missile Defense Agency’s budget has 

5 decreased 23.4 percent, from $11,000,000,000 to 

6 $8,400,000,000. 

7 (19) Meanwhile, Iran continues to develop bal8 listic missiles in violation of United Nations Security 

9 Council Resolution 2231 (2015), has developed me10 dium-range ballistic missiles to target Israel and 

11 other allies of the United States, and is working to12 wards an intercontinental ballistic missile capability. 

13 (20) In March 2013, in response to a nuclear 

14 detonation by North Korea, Secretary of Defense 

15 Chuck Hagel, citing ‘‘irresponsible and reckless 

16 provocations’’, announced plans to restore the num17 ber of deployed ground-based interceptors from 30 

18 to 44 by the end of 2017. 

19 (21) The Missile Defense Agency will soon fin20 ish the expansion to 44 ground-based interceptors 

21 and begin the construction of a new S-band radar, 

22 the Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR), at 

23 Clear Air Force Station, Alaska, starting in 2018. 

24 (22) The Missile Defense Agency is currently 

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1 tion-3 (C3) booster, a selectable two- or three-stage 

2 booster, and has plans to field this capability by 

3 September 30, 2023. 

4 (23) Section 1682 of the National Defense Au5 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 

6 114–92; 10 U.S.C. 2431 note) directs the Director 

7 of the Missile Defense Agency to modernize and im8 prove the reliability of the ground-based interceptor 

9 fleet by speeding the development of the redesigned 

10 kill vehicle (RKV) to replace all capability-enhance11 ment I exoatmospheric kill vehicles by September 

12 30, 2022. 

13 (24) Section 1681 of the National Defense Au14 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 

15 114–92; 10 U.S.C. 2431 note) makes the multi-ob16 ject kill vehicle (MOKV), which is a new technology 

17 that would allow single interceptors to engage more 

18 than one target, a program of record and directs the 

19 Director of the Missile Defense Agency to begin rig20 orous flight testing of a multiple-object kill vehicle 

21 for the ground-based midcourse defense system by 

22 2020. 

23 (25) Section 1680 of the National Defense Au24 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 

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1 retary of Defense to report on the efforts of the De2 partment of Defense to develop and deploy an air3 borne or other boost phase defense system for mis4 sile defense by fiscal year 2025. 

5 (26) Section 1685 of the National Defense Au6 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 

7 114–92) requires the Director to commence the con8 cept definition of a space-based ballistic missile 

9 intercept layer to the ballistic missile defense system 

10 and to draft operational concepts for how a space11 based ballistic missile intercept layer would function 

12 in the context of a multi-layer missile defense archi13 tecture. 

14 (27) Section 1683 of the National Defense Au15 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 

16 114–92) and section 238 of the National Defense 

17 Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 

18 113–66) requires the Director to plan the future 

19 construction of an additional missile defense site in 

20 the United States, including the possibility of a site 

21 on the East Coast of the United States that is capa22 ble of protecting the homeland. 

23 (28) The Department of Defense and the Mis24 sile Defense Agency are continuing to deploy Aegis 

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1 minal High Altitude Area Defense systems to more 

2 robustly defend members of the Armed Forces, allies 

3 and partners of the United States, cities and popu4 lations centers in the United States, and critical in5 frastructure of the United States. 

6 (29) The current United States missile defense 

7 architecture, including the ground-based midcourse 

8 defense and terminal segment defenses like the Ter9 minal High Altitude Area Defense, Aegis Ballistic 

10 Missile Defense, Aegis Ashore, and Patriot Air and 

11 Missile Defense System, are presently capable of de12 fending deployed Armed Forces of the United 

13 States, as well as allies and partners of the United 

14 States. 

15 (30) General Robinson, in testimony before the 

16 Committee on Armed Services of the Senate on April 

17 6, 2017, stated ‘‘As adversaries continue to pursue 

18 credible and advanced capabilities, we too must 

19 evolve our missile defense capabilities to outpace in20 creasingly complex threats.’’. 

21 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con22 gress that the Secretary of Defense should use the upcom23 ing Ballistic Missile Defense Review (BMDR) and the 

24 Missile Defeat Review (MDR) to accelerate the develop25 ment of new and existing means to increase the capacity, 


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1 capability, and reliability of the ground-based midcourse 

2 defense element of the ballistic missile defense system and 

3 other missile defense programs. 

4 (c) ACCELERATION OF DEVELOPMENT OF CERTAIN

5 ADVANCED MISSILE DEFENSE TECHNOLOGIES TOWARD

6 FIELDING.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—To the degree practicable, 

8 the Director of the Missile Defense Agency shall use 

9 the policies of the Department of Defense to accel10 erate the development, testing, and fielding of the 

11 redesigned kill vehicle, the multi-object kill vehicle, 

12 the C3 booster, a space-based sensor layer, an air13 borne laser on unmanned aerial vehicles, and an ad14 ditional missile defense site, including the completion 

15 of any outstanding environmental impact statements 

16 (EISs) for an additional missile defense site on the 

17 East Coast or in the Midwest regions of the United 

18 States. 

19 (2) PRIORITY.—The Director shall prioritize 

20 the development of capabilities listed in paragraph 

21 (1) subject to annual authorization and appropria22 tion of funding. 

23 (3) DEVELOPMENT.—The Director shall use 

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1 ment to develop the capabilities set forth in para2 graph (1). 

3 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION TO INCREASE CURRENT GROUND4 BASED MIDCOURSE DEFENSE CAPACITY BY 

5 28 GROUND-BASED INTERCEPTORS. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find7 ings: 

8 (1) A report from Johns Hopkins University, 

9 published in 2015, and entitled ‘‘North Korea’s Nu10 clear Futures: Technology and Strategy’’, concluded 

11 that, by 2020, North Korea could have as many as 

12 100 nuclear weapons. 

13 (2) By December 31, 2017, the United States 

14 will have 44 operational ground-based interceptors 

15 distributed between Fort Greely, Alaska, and Van16 denberg Air Force Base, California. 

17 (3) Missile Field 1 and Missile Field 2 at Fort 

18 Greely have the capacity to house an additional 14 

19 and 6 ground-based interceptors, respectively, with20 out the added infrastructure costs of some common 

21 ground systems. 

22 (4) A report by the Department of Defense, 

23 submitted to Congress in 2013, and entitled ‘‘Home24 land Defense Hedging Policy and Strategy’’, rec25 ommended acquiring 14 operational and testing 


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1 spares for increased testing requirements and to 

2 support increased capacity as a hedge against 

3 emerging threats. 

4 (b) INCREASE IN CAPACITY.—The Secretary of De5 fense shall, subject to the annual authorization of appro6 priations and the annual appropriation of funds for Na7 tional Missile Defense, increase the number of United 

8 States ground-based interceptors by 28. 

9 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

11 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 

12 of the Missile Defense Agency shall submit to the 

13 congressional defense committees (as defined in sec14 tion 101(a) of title 10, United States Code) a report 

15 on infrastructure requirements to increase the num16 ber of ground-based interceptors at Missile Field 1 

17 and Missile Field 2 at Fort Greely to 20 ground18 based interceptors each. 

19 (2) CONTENTS.—The report required by para20 graph (1) shall include the following: 

21 (A) An analysis of the strategic, oper22 ational, and tactical benefits of adding addi23 tional ground-based interceptors at each missile 

24 field. 


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1 (B) A detailed description of the infra2 structure needed and costs associated with ex3 panding each missile field. 

4 (C) An identification of any environmental, 

5 technical, or logistical barriers to expanding 

6 each missile field. 

7 (D) Any analysis of alternatively using 

8 Missile Field 4 and Missile Field 5 to increase 

9 the number of ground-based interceptors. 

10 (3) FORM.—The report submitted under para11 graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, 

12 but may include a classified annex. 

13 (d) DEPLOYMENT.—Not later than December 31, 

14 2021, the Secretary of Defense shall— 

15 (1) execute any requisite construction to ensure 

16 that Missile Field 1 or Missile Field 2 at Fort 

17 Greely or alternative missile fields at Fort Greely 

18 which may be identified pursuant to subsection (c), 

19 are capable of supporting and sustaining additional 

20 ground-based interceptors; 

21 (2) deploy 14 additional ground-based intercep22 tors to Missile Field 1 or an alternative missile field 

23 at Fort Greely as soon as technically feasible; and 


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1 (3) identify a ground-based interceptor stockpile 

2 storage site for a minimum of 14 ground-based 

3 interceptors. 

4 SEC. 4. MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY REPORT ON INCREAS5 ING NUMBER OF GROUND-BASED INTERCEP6 TORS UP TO 100. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 

9 (1) In six years of being in power, Kim Jong10 un has conducted more missile tests, and more than 

11 twice as many nuclear tests, as both his father and 

12 grandfather conducted in their 60 total years of 

13 being in power. 

14 (2) According to senior Department of Defense 

15 officials, Iran, which has the most active and diverse 

16 ballistic missile development program in the Middle 

17 East, may be able to deploy an operational inter18 continental ballistic missile by 2020. 

19 (3) A 2013 Department of Defense report to 

20 Congress, entitled ‘‘Homeland Defense Hedging Pol21 icy and Strategy’’, stated that the most cost-effective 

22 and near-term option for increasing homeland inter23 ceptor capacity is at existing missile fields. 


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1 (4) Phase 3 of former President Clinton’s 

2 ‘‘3+3’’ strategy for national missile defense outlined 

3 as many as 250 interceptors. 

4 (5) The 2000 Final Environmental Impact 

5 Statement for Fort Greely included the authoriza6 tion for up to 100 ground-based interceptors to en7 sure that growth would not incur any unexpected en8 vironmental delays. 

9 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con10 gress that it is the policy of the United States to maintain 

11 and improve, with the allies of the United States, an effec12 tive, robust layered missile defense system capable of de13 fending the citizens of the United States residing in terri14 tories and States of the United States, allies of the United 

15 States, and deployed Armed Forces of the United States. 

16 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

18 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 

19 of the Missile Defense Agency shall submit to the 

20 congressional defense committees a report on in21 creasing the capacity of the ground-based midcourse 

22 defense element of the ballistic missile defense sys23 tem. 

24 (2) CONTENTS.—The report required by para25 graph (1) shall include the following: 


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1 (A) An identification of potential sites— 

2 new or existing—to allow for the increase of up 

3 to 100 ground-based interceptors. 

4 (B) An analysis of the strategic, oper5 ational, tactical, and cost benefits of each site. 

6 (C) A description of any environmental, 

7 legal, or tactical challenges associated with each 

8 site. 

9 (D) A detailed description of the infra10 structure needed and costs associated with each 

11 site. 

12 (E) A summary of any completed or out13 standing environmental impact statements 

14 (EIS) on each site. 

15 (F) An operational evaluation and cost 

16 analysis of the deployment of transportable 

17 ground-based interceptors, including an identi18 fication of potential sites, including in the east19 ern United States and at Vandenberg Air Force 

20 Base, and an examination of any environ21 mental, legal, or tactical challenges associated 

22 with such deployments, including to any sites 

23 identified in subparagraph (A). 

24 (G) A determination of the appropriate 

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1 cles and boosters to maximize overall system ef2 fectiveness and increase its capacity and capa3 bility, including the costs and benefits of contin4 ued inclusion of capability enhancement II 

5 (CE–II) Block 1 interceptors after the fielding 

6 of the redesigned kill vehicle. 

7 (H) A description of the planned improve8 ments to homeland ballistic missile defense sen9 sor and discrimination capabilities and an as10 sessment of the expected operational benefits of 

11 such improvements to homeland ballistic missile 

12 defense. 

13 (I) The benefit of supplementing ground14 based midcourse defense elements with other, 

15 more distributed, elements, including both Aegis 

16 ships and Aegis Ashore installations with 

17 Standard Missile-3 Block IIA and other inter18 ceptors in Hawaii and at other locations for 

19 homeland missile defense. 

20 (3) FORM.—The report required by paragraph 

21 (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 

22 include a classified annex. 


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1 SEC. 5. EVALUATION AND EVOLUTION OF TERRESTRIAL 

2 GROUND-BASED MIDCOURSE DEFENSE SEN3 SORS. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find5 ings: 

6 (1) United States missile defense sensors are 

7 the unheralded backbone of the missile defense ar8 chitecture of the United States, positioned to provide 

9 the Armed Forces with critical data needed to suc10 cessfully intercept threats from rogue nations like 

11 Iran and North Korea. 

12 (2) The United States uses a wide variety of 

13 UHF, L-, S-, and X-band ground-based sensors and 

14 only a few infrared space-based sensors for early 

15 warning, tracking, and discrimination of ballistic 

16 missiles. 

17 (3) The United States currently has operational 

18 upgraded early warning radars (UEWRs) for home19 land missile defense at Beale Air Force Base, Cali20 fornia, Fylingdales, United Kingdom, and Thule Air 

21 Force Base, Greenland, and will soon add upgrade 

22 early warning radars at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 

23 and Clear Air Force Station, Alaska. 

24 (4) Originally constructed in the 1970s, the 

25 COBRA DANE radar at Eareckson Air Station on 


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1 Shemya, Alaska, provides critical information on 

2 missile defense threats to the Armed Forces. 

3 (5) The Long Range Discrimination Radar 

4 (LRDR), a new, land-based, S-band radar on Clear 

5 Air Force Station will begin to deliver persistent 

6 long-range discrimination, precision tracking, and 

7 hit estimation when construction completes on the 

8 radar by 2020. 

9 (b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

11 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 

12 of the Missile Defense Agency, in coordination with 

13 the Secretary of the Air Force, shall submit to the 

14 congressional defense committees (as defined in sec15 tion 101(a) of title 10, United States Code) a report 

16 on the status of the integrated layers of missile de17 fense radars. 

18 (2) CONTENTS.—The report required by para19 graph (1) shall include the following: 

20 (A) A detailed analysis of the expected im21 provements resulting from the integration of 

22 the Long Range Discrimination Radar into the 

23 missile defense system architecture of the 

24 United States, including— 


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1 (i) any adjustments to homeland mis2 sile defense tactics, techniques, and proce3 dures; 

4 (ii) possible adjustments to ground5 based midcourse defense shot-doctrine and 

6 required interceptor capacity; 

7 (iii) possibilities for direct integration 

8 with Fort Greely’s Command and Control 

9 node; and 

10 (iv) impacts on regional missile de11 fense systems including Aegis Ballistic 

12 Missile Defense, Aegis Ashore, and Ter13 minal High Altitude Area Defense. 

14 (B) A detailed comparison of the capabili15 ties of Long Range Discrimination Radar and 

16 the COBRA DANE radar, including— 

17 (i) the unique capabilities of each 

18 radar; 

19 (ii) the overlapping capabilities of 

20 each radar; and 

21 (iii) the advantages and disadvantages 

22 of each radar’s location. 

23 (C) A modernization plan for the long-term 

24 continued operations and maintenance of the 

25 COBRA DANE radar or a plan to replace its 


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1 capability if COBRA DANE cannot remain 

2 operational, and the costs associated with each 

3 plan. 

4 (c) ASSESSMENT BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF

5 THE UNITED STATES.—Not later than 90 days after the 

6 date on which the Director submits the report under sub7 section (b)(1), the Comptroller General of the United 

8 States shall— 

9 (1) complete a review of the plan required by 

10 subsection (b)(2)(C); and 

11 (2) submit to the congressional defense commit12 tees (as defined in section 101(a) of title 10, United 

13 States Code) a report on such review that includes 

14 the findings and recommendations of the Comp15 troller General. 

16 (d) FORM.—The reports submitted under subsections 

17 (b) and (c) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but 

18 may include a classified annex. 

19 SEC. 6. DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF A SPACE20 BASED MISSILE DEFENSE SENSOR ARCHITEC21 TURE. 

22 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find23 ings: 

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1 Demonstration (STSS–D), a two satellite constella2 tion for testing purposes, which uses sensors capable 

3 of detecting visible and infrared light and serves as 

4 an experimental space tracker for the ballistic mis5 sile defense system. 

6 (2) Conceptually developed in 2009, the Preci7 sion Tracking Space (PTSS) would have provided 

8 the persistent space-based tracking of ballistic mis9 siles, including object characterization and discrimi10 nation, and would have also supported homeland, re11 gional, and theater missile defense. 

12 (3) Projected to enter orbit in 2018, the Missile 

13 Defense Agency and the Applied Physics Laboratory 

14 of Johns Hopkins University is currently conducting 

15 a Space-based Kill Assessment (SKA) experiment, a 

16 network of small sensors hosted on commercial sat17 ellites, used to collect the energy signature of the im18 pact between a ballistic missile threat and an inter19 ceptor from the ballistic missile defense system. 

20 (4) Section 236 of the National Defense Au21 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 

22 113–66) required the Secretary of Defense to con23 duct an evaluation of options and alternatives for fu24 ture sensor architectures for ballistic missile defense 


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1 in order to enhance the ballistic missile defense ca2 pabilities of the United States. 

3 (5) General John Hyten, Commander of the 

4 United States Strategic Command, has argued for 

5 the ‘‘deployment of a global space-based sensor sys6 tem with discrimination capability’’ as a ‘‘critical 

7 component to improving the effectiveness of our de8 ployed interceptors’’ and to provide ‘‘multiple re9 sponse especially as potential adversaries embark on 

10 improving countermeasures against our [missile de11 fense] systems.’’. 

12 (6) Admiral James Syring, the Director of the 

13 Missile Defense Agency, has stated, ‘‘From a missile 

14 defense perspective, we have to develop a future 

15 operational space layer. Given where the threat is 

16 going with hypersonics and more ICBMs and so 

17 forth this persistent tracking and discrimination ca18 pability from space is a must.’’. 

19 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con20 gress that the Department of Defense shall develop a resil21 ient space-based missile defense sensor layer to provide 

22 persistent, launch-to-intercept tracking, discrimination, 

23 and kill assessment of ballistic missile threats and provide 

24 this capability to the Armed Forces as soon as technically 

25 feasible. 


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1 (c) SPACE-BASED MISSILE DEFENSE SENSOR AR2 CHITECTURE.— 

3 (1) DEVELOPMENT.—The Director of the Mis4 sile Defense Agency shall develop a highly reliable 

5 space-based missile defense sensor architecture for 

6 the ground-based midcourse defense system using 

7 sound acquisition practices. 

8 (2) DEPLOYMENT.—The Director shall— 

9 (A) conduct rigorous testing of the space10 based missile defense sensor architecture devel11 oped under paragraph (1) as soon as technically 

12 feasible; and 

13 (B) produce and deploy a space-based mis14 sile defense sensor architecture as soon as tech15 nically feasible after the date on which the Di16 rector successfully carries out subparagraph 

17 (A). 

18 (d) CAPABILITIES AND CRITERIA.—The Director 

19 shall ensure that the space-based missile defense sensor 

20 architecture developed under subsection (c)(1) provides 

21 the following functions and capabilities: 

22 (1) SENSOR FUNCTIONS.—At a minimum, mis23 sile defense-related sensors shall include the fol24 lowing: 

25 (A) Detection. 


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1 (B) Tracking. 

2 (C) Characterization. 

3 (D) Classification. 

4 (E) Discrimination. 

5 (F) Debris mitigation. 

6 (G) Kill assessment. 

7 (2) SENSOR ARCHITECTURE CAPABILITIES.—At 

8 a minimum, maximization or improvement of sensor9 related capabilities shall include the following: 

10 (A) Handling of increasing raid sizes. 

11 (B) Precision tracking of threat missiles. 

12 (C) Providing fire-control-quality tracks of 

13 evolving threat missiles. 

14 (D) Enabling launch-on-remote and en15 gage-on-remote capabilities. 

16 (E) Discriminating lethal objects (war17 heads) from other objects. 

18 (F) Effectively assessing the results of en19 gagements. 

20 (G) Enabling enhanced shot doctrine. 

21 (H) Integrating with all elements of the 

22 current missile defense system, including the 

23 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, Aegis 

24 Ballistic Missile Defense, Aegis Ashore, and Pa25 triot Air and Missile Defense System. 


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1 (I) Such other capabilities as the Secretary 

2 of Defense determines appropriate. 

3 (e) PROGRAM MANAGEMENT.—The management of 

4 the space-based missile defense sensor architecture devel5 oped under subsection (c) shall report directly to the Dep6 uty Director of the Missile Defense Agency. 

7 (f) REPORT ON FUNDING PROFILE.—The Director 

8 shall include with the budget justification materials sub9 mitted to Congress in support of the budget of the Depart10 ment of Defense for fiscal year 2018 (as submitted with 

11 the budget of the President under section 1105(a) of title 

12 31, United States Code) a report on the funding profile 

13 necessary to carry out subsection (c). 

14 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION FOR MORE GROUND-BASED MID15 COURSE DEFENSE TESTING. 

16 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find17 ings: 

18 (1) General John Hyten, Commander of the 

19 United States Strategic Command, stated that 

20 North Korea is quickly advancing their missile and 

21 nuclear technology because their rapid testing ca22 dence allows them to quickly apply lessons learned 

23 in testing to advance new capabilities. 

24 (2) General Hyten characterized the current ir25 regular testing environment in the United States as 


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1 ‘‘the wrong kind of testing environment’’ due to 

2 risk-aversion and fear of failure. 

3 (3) Regular missile defense testing, including 

4 ground testing and non-intercept tests, not only im5 proves the missile defense system, but also gives the 

6 members of the Armed Forces experience with and 

7 confidence in their tactics, techniques, and proce8 dures. 

9 (4) Since 2006 and adjusted for inflation, fund10 ing for testing of the ground-based midcourse de11 fense element has decreased 83.5 percent, from more 

12 than $400,000,000 to $65,800,000. 

13 (5) Section 1689 of the National Defense Au14 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 

15 114–328) requires the Director of the Missile De16 fense Agency to administer a flight test of the 

17 ground-based midcourse defense element of the bal18 listic missile defense system at least once each fiscal 

19 year. 

20 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con21 gress that— 

22 (1) at a minimum, the Missile Defense Agency 

23 should continue to flight test the ground-based mid24 course defense element at least once each fiscal year; 


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1 (2) the Department of Defense should allocate 

2 increased funding to homeland missile defense test3 ing to ensure that our defenses continue to evolve 

4 faster than the threats against which they are pos5 tured to defend; 

6 (3) in order to rapidly innovate, develop, and 

7 field new technologies, the Director of the Missile 

8 Defense Agency should continue to focus testing 

9 campaigns on delivering increased capabilities to the 

10 Armed Forces as quickly as possible; and 

11 (4) the Director of the Missile Defense Agency 

12 should seek to establish a more prudent balance be13 tween risk mitigation and the more rapid testing 

14 pace needed to quickly develop and deliver new capa15 bilities to the Armed Forces. 

16 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

18 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 

19 of the Missile Defense Agency shall submit to the 

20 congressional defense committees (as defined in sec21 tion 101(a) of title 10, United States Code) a re22 vised missile defense testing campaign plan that ac23 celerates the development and deployment of new 

24 missile defense technologies. 


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1 (2) CONTENTS.—The report required by para2 graph (1) shall include the following: 

3 (A) A detailed analysis of the acceleration 

4 of each of following programs: 

5 (i) Redesigned kill vehicle. 

6 (ii) Multi-object kill vehicle. 

7 (iii) Configuration-3 Booster. 

8 (iv) Lasers mounted on small un9 manned aerial vehicles. 

10 (v) Space-based missile defense sensor 

11 architecture. 

12 (vi) Such additional technologies as 

13 the Director considers appropriate. 

14 (B) A new deployment timeline for each of 

15 the programs in listed in subparagraph (A) or 

16 a detailed description of why the current 

17 timeline for deployment technologies under 

18 those programs is most suitable. 

19 (C) An identification of any funding or pol20 icy restrictions that would slow down the de21 ployment of the technologies under the pro22 grams listed in subparagraph (A). 

23 (D) A risk assessment of the potential 

24 cost-overruns and deployment delays that may 


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1 be encountered in the expedited development 

2 process of the capabilities under paragraph (1). 

3 (d) REPORT ON FUNDING PROFILE.—The Director 

4 shall include with the budget justification materials sub5 mitted to Congress in support of the budget of the Depart6 ment of Defense for fiscal year 2018 (as submitted with 

7 the budget of the President under section 1105(a) of title 

8 31, United States Code) a report on the funding profile 

9 necessary for the new testing campaign plan required by 

10 subsection (c)(1). 

Æ 


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