I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2912 
To expand the capacity and capability of the ballistic missile defense system 
of the United States, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 15, 2017 
Mr. YOUNG of Alaska (for himself, Mr. LAMBORN, Ms. HANABUSA, Mr. 
AGUILAR, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. BRIDENSTINE, Ms. GABBARD, 
Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. GALLA-
GHER, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, and Mr. MAST) introduced the following 
bill; which was 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Advancing America’s 
Missile Defense Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON CURRENT STATE OF 
UNITED STATES MISSILE DEFENSE, FUTURE 
INVESTMENT, AND ACCELERATING CAPABILI-
TIES TO OUTPACE CURRENT THREATS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) According to the Commander of United 
States Northern Command, General Lori Robinson, 
the ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) element 
of the ballistic missile defense system ‘‘defend[s] the 
homeland against a limited long-range ballistic mis-
sile attack’’ and ‘‘is designed to intercept incoming 
threats in the midcourse phase of flight.’’. 
(2) Spanning 15 time zones, the ground-based 
midcourse defense element of the ballistic missile de-
fense system and its associated elements represents 
the only system currently capable of defeating an 
adversary’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) 
in the midcourse segment of flight. 
(3) Terminal High Altitude Area Defense 
(THAAD) is a United States Army weapon system 
that is transportable, globally deployable, and capa-
ble of defeating ballistic missiles inside or outside 
the atmosphere during a missile’s terminal phase of 
flight. 
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(4) In response to the aggressive behavior of 
North Korea, the United States initially deployed a 
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery to the 
United States territory of Guam in April of 2013, 
made that deployment permanent in July of 2015, 
and began to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area 
Defense battery to South Korea in March of 2017. 
(5) Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense is the naval 
component of the ballistic missile defense system ca-
pable of defeating short- to intermediate-range, mid-
course-phase, ballistic missile threats and short- 
range ballistic missiles in the terminal phase. 
(6) The Navy currently has 33 Aegis Ballistic 
Missile Defense combatants, 5 cruisers (CGs) and 
28 destroyers (DDGs), and will add an additional 
ballistic missile defense-capable destroyer by the end 
of fiscal year 2017. 
(7) Aegis Ashore is the land-based component 
of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system and is 
currently capable of defeating short- to intermediate- 
range ballistic missile threats. 
(8) In 2015, the United States deployed the 
first Aegis Ashore unit to Romania, and in 2018, 
the United States plans to deploy an Aegis Ashore 
unit to Poland. 
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(9) The current leader of North Korea, Kim 
Jong-un, has threatened a ‘‘preemptive nuclear 
strike’’ against the United States and has publicly 
stated that North Korea ‘‘can tip new-type inter-
continental ballistic rockets with more powerful nu-
clear warheads’’ capable of ranging the United 
States mainland. 
(10) Kim Jong-un has rapidly increased the ca-
dence of nuclear and ballistic missile testing. 
(11) North Korea’s testing is steadily pro-
gressing toward their stated goal and has achieved 
some notable successes, including its first sub-
marine-launched ballistic missile in 2016 and its 
first solid-fueled, medium-range ballistic missile in 
early 2017. 
(12) According to General John E. Hyten, 
Commander of United States Strategic Command, 
during a hearing of the Committee on Armed Serv-
ices of the Senate on February 11, 2017, ‘‘the North 
Koreans launched a new solid, medium-range bal-
listic missile . . . A solid rocket [that] can be rolled 
out and launched at a moment’s notice.’’. 
(13) General Hyten further testified that the 
February 11th test also ‘‘showed a new technology 
[and] a new North Korean capability . . . [The 
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North Koreans] moved what was demonstrated at 
sea onto land, onto a new launcher, and did it in a 
very quick way.’’. 
(14) On May 14, 2017, North Korea launched 
a new missile, reported as a Hwasong-12, that re-
portedly flew a highly lofted trajectory reaching an 
altitude of over 2,000 kilometers and traveling more 
than 700 kilometers in distance before falling into 
the East Sea. 
(15) Several senior officials at the Department 
of Defense have publicly stated their belief that, due 
to the new pace of North Korean missile testing, it 
is no longer a matter of if North Korea gets the ca-
pability to threaten the contiguous United States 
with a nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile, but 
when North Korea will achieve that capability. 
(16) During the past six years, under the re-
gime of Kim Jong-un, North Korea has conducted 
approximately 80 ballistic missile and three nuclear 
tests. 
(17) During the same span of six years, the 
Missile Defense Agency, due to funding reductions, 
budget uncertainty, and a risk-averse testing cul-
ture, has only conducted four flight tests of the 
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ground-based midcourse defense element of the bal-
listic missile defense system. 
(18) Since 2006 and adjusted for inflation, 
funding for the Missile Defense Agency’s budget has 
decreased 23.4 percent, from $11,000,000,000 to 
$8,400,000,000. 
(19) Meanwhile, Iran continues to develop bal-
listic missiles in violation of United Nations Security 
Council Resolution 2231 (2015), has developed me-
dium-range ballistic missiles to target Israel and 
other allies of the United States, and is working to-
wards an intercontinental ballistic missile capability. 
(20) In March 2013, in response to a nuclear 
detonation by North Korea, Secretary of Defense 
Chuck Hagel, citing ‘‘irresponsible and reckless 
provocations’’, announced plans to restore the num-
ber of deployed ground-based interceptors from 30 
to 44 by the end of 2017. 
(21) The Missile Defense Agency will soon fin-
ish the expansion to 44 ground-based interceptors 
and begin the construction of a new S-band radar, 
the Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR), at 
Clear Air Force Station, Alaska, starting in 2018. 
(22) The Missile Defense Agency is currently 
researching, testing, and developing the Configura-
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tion-3 (C3) booster, a selectable two- or three-stage 
booster, and has plans to field this capability by 
September 30, 2023. 
(23) Section 1682 of the National Defense Au-
thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 
114–92; 10 U.S.C. 2431 note) directs the Director 
of the Missile Defense Agency to modernize and im-
prove the reliability of the ground-based interceptor 
fleet by speeding the development of the redesigned 
kill vehicle (RKV) to replace all capability-enhance-
ment I exoatmospheric kill vehicles by September 
30, 2022. 
(24) Section 1681 of the National Defense Au-
thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 
114–92; 10 U.S.C. 2431 note) makes the multi-ob-
ject kill vehicle (MOKV), which is a new technology 
that would allow single interceptors to engage more 
than one target, a program of record and directs the 
Director of the Missile Defense Agency to begin rig-
orous flight testing of a multiple-object kill vehicle 
for the ground-based midcourse defense system by 
2020. 
(25) Section 1680 of the National Defense Au-
thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 
114–92; 10 U.S.C. 2431 note) required the Sec-
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retary of Defense to report on the efforts of the De-
partment of Defense to develop and deploy an air-
borne or other boost phase defense system for mis-
sile defense by fiscal year 2025. 
(26) Section 1685 of the National Defense Au-
thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 
114–92) requires the Director to commence the con-
cept definition of a space-based ballistic missile 
intercept layer to the ballistic missile defense system 
and to draft operational concepts for how a space- 
based ballistic missile intercept layer would function 
in the context of a multi-layer missile defense archi-
tecture. 
(27) Section 1683 of the National Defense Au-
thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (Public Law 
114–92) and section 238 of the National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 
113–66) requires the Director to plan the future 
construction of an additional missile defense site in 
the United States, including the possibility of a site 
on the East Coast of the United States that is capa-
ble of protecting the homeland. 
(28) The Department of Defense and the Mis-
sile Defense Agency are continuing to deploy Aegis 
Ballistic Missile Defense, Aegis Ashore, and Ter-
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minal High Altitude Area Defense systems to more 
robustly defend members of the Armed Forces, allies 
and partners of the United States, cities and popu-
lation centers in the United States, and critical in-
frastructure of the United States. 
(29) The current United States missile defense 
architecture, including the ground-based midcourse 
defense and terminal segment defenses like the Ter-
minal High Altitude Area Defense, Aegis Ballistic 
Missile Defense, Aegis Ashore, and Patriot Air and 
Missile Defense System, are presently capable of de-
fending deployed Armed Forces of the United 
States, as well as allies and partners of the United 
States. 
(30) General Robinson, in testimony before the 
Committee on Armed Services of the Senate on April 
6, 2017, stated ‘‘As adversaries continue to pursue 
credible and advanced capabilities, we too must 
evolve our missile defense capabilities to outpace in-
creasingly complex threats.’’. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the Secretary of Defense should use the upcom-
ing Ballistic Missile Defense Review (BMDR) and the 
Missile Defeat Review (MDR) to accelerate the develop-
ment of new and existing means to increase the capacity, 
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capability, and reliability of the ground-based midcourse 
defense element of the ballistic missile defense system and 
other missile defense programs. 
(c) ACCELERATION OF DEVELOPMENT OF CERTAIN 
ADVANCED MISSILE DEFENSE TECHNOLOGIES TOWARD 
FIELDING.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—To the degree practicable, 
the Director of the Missile Defense Agency shall use 
the policies of the Department of Defense to accel-
erate the development, testing, and fielding of the 
redesigned kill vehicle, the multi-object kill vehicle, 
the C3 booster, a space-based sensor layer, an air-
borne laser on unmanned aerial vehicles, and an ad-
ditional missile defense site, including the completion 
of any outstanding environmental impact statements 
(EISs) for an additional missile defense site on the 
East Coast or in the Midwest regions of the United 
States. 
(2) PRIORITY.—The Director shall prioritize 
the development of capabilities listed in paragraph 
(1) subject to annual authorization and appropria-
tion of funding. 
(3) DEVELOPMENT.—The Director shall use 
sound acquisition processes and program manage-
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ment to develop the capabilities set forth in para-
graph (1). 
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION TO INCREASE CURRENT GROUND- 
BASED MIDCOURSE DEFENSE CAPACITY BY 
28 GROUND-BASED INTERCEPTORS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) A report from Johns Hopkins University, 
published in 2015, and entitled ‘‘North Korea’s Nu-
clear Futures: Technology and Strategy’’, concluded 
that, by 2020, North Korea could have as many as 
100 nuclear weapons. 
(2) By December 31, 2017, the United States 
will have 44 operational ground-based interceptors 
distributed between Fort Greely, Alaska, and Van-
denberg Air Force Base, California. 
(3) Missile Field 1 and Missile Field 2 at Fort 
Greely have the capacity to house an additional 14 
and 6 ground-based interceptors, respectively, with-
out the added infrastructure costs of some common 
ground systems. 
(4) A report by the Department of Defense, 
submitted to Congress in 2013, and entitled ‘‘Home-
land Defense Hedging Policy and Strategy’’, rec-
ommended acquiring 14 operational and testing 
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spares for increased testing requirements and to 
support increased capacity as a hedge against 
emerging threats. 
(b) INCREASE IN CAPACITY.—The Secretary of De-
fense shall, subject to the annual authorization of appro-
priations and the annual appropriation of funds for Na-
tional Missile Defense, increase the number of United 
States ground-based interceptors by 28. 
(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 
of the Missile Defense Agency shall submit to the 
congressional defense committees (as defined in sec-
tion 101(a) of title 10, United States Code) a report 
on infrastructure requirements to increase the num-
ber of ground-based interceptors at Missile Field 1 
and Missile Field 2 at Fort Greely to 20 ground- 
based interceptors each. 
(2) CONTENTS.—The report required by para-
graph (1) shall include the following: 
(A) An analysis of the strategic, oper-
ational, and tactical benefits of adding addi-
tional ground-based interceptors at each missile 
field. 
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(B) A detailed description of the infra-
structure needed and costs associated with ex-
panding each missile field. 
(C) An identification of any environmental, 
technical, or logistical barriers to expanding 
each missile field. 
(D) Any analysis of alternatively using 
Missile Field 4 and Missile Field 5 to increase 
the number of ground-based interceptors. 
(3) FORM.—The report submitted under para-
graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, 
but may include a classified annex. 
(d) DEPLOYMENT.—Not later than December 31, 
2021, the Secretary of Defense shall— 
(1) execute any requisite construction to ensure 
that Missile Field 1 or Missile Field 2 at Fort 
Greely or alternative missile fields at Fort Greely 
which may be identified pursuant to subsection (c), 
are capable of supporting and sustaining additional 
ground-based interceptors; 
(2) deploy 14 additional ground-based intercep-
tors to Missile Field 1 or an alternative missile field 
at Fort Greely as soon as technically feasible; and 
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(3) identify a ground-based interceptor stockpile 
storage site for a minimum of 14 ground-based 
interceptors. 
SEC. 4. MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY REPORT ON INCREAS-
ING NUMBER OF GROUND-BASED INTERCEP-
TORS UP TO 100. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) In six years of being in power, Kim Jong- 
un has conducted more missile tests, and more than 
twice as many nuclear tests, as both his father and 
grandfather conducted in their 60 total years of 
being in power. 
(2) According to senior Department of Defense 
officials, Iran, which has the most active and diverse 
ballistic missile development program in the Middle 
East, may be able to deploy an operational inter-
continental ballistic missile by 2020. 
(3) A 2013 Department of Defense report to 
Congress, entitled ‘‘Homeland Defense Hedging Pol-
icy and Strategy’’, stated that the most cost-effective 
and near-term option for increasing homeland inter-
ceptor capacity is at existing missile fields. 
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(4) Phase 3 of former President Clinton’s 
‘‘3+3’’ strategy for national missile defense outlined 
as many as 250 interceptors. 
(5) The 2000 Final Environmental Impact 
Statement for Fort Greely included the authoriza-
tion for up to 100 ground-based interceptors to en-
sure that growth would not incur any unexpected en-
vironmental delays. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that it is the policy of the United States to maintain 
and improve, with the allies of the United States, an effec-
tive, robust layered missile defense system capable of de-
fending the citizens of the United States residing in terri-
tories and States of the United States, allies of the United 
States, and deployed Armed Forces of the United States. 
(c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 
of the Missile Defense Agency shall submit to the 
congressional defense committees a report on in-
creasing the capacity of the ground-based midcourse 
defense element of the ballistic missile defense sys-
tem. 
(2) CONTENTS.—The report required by para-
graph (1) shall include the following: 
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(A) An identification of potential sites— 
new or existing—to allow for the increase of up 
to 100 ground-based interceptors. 
(B) An analysis of the strategic, oper-
ational, tactical, and cost benefits of each site. 
(C) A description of any environmental, 
legal, or tactical challenges associated with each 
site. 
(D) A detailed description of the infra-
structure needed and costs associated with each 
site. 
(E) A summary of any completed or out-
standing 
environmental 
impact 
statements 
(EIS) on each site. 
(F) An operational evaluation and cost 
analysis of the deployment of transportable 
ground-based interceptors, including an identi-
fication of potential sites, including in the east-
ern United States and at Vandenberg Air Force 
Base, and an examination of any environ-
mental, legal, or tactical challenges associated 
with such deployments, including to any sites 
identified in subparagraph (A). 
(G) A determination of the appropriate 
fleet mix of ground-based interceptor kill vehi-
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cles and boosters to maximize overall system ef-
fectiveness and increase its capacity and capa-
bility, including the costs and benefits of contin-
ued inclusion of capability enhancement II 
(CE–II) Block 1 interceptors after the fielding 
of the redesigned kill vehicle. 
(H) A description of the planned improve-
ments to homeland ballistic missile defense sen-
sor and discrimination capabilities and an as-
sessment of the expected operational benefits of 
such improvements to homeland ballistic missile 
defense. 
(I) The benefit of supplementing ground- 
based midcourse defense elements with other, 
more distributed, elements, including both Aegis 
ships and Aegis Ashore installations with 
Standard Missile-3 Block IIA and other inter-
ceptors in Hawaii and at other locations for 
homeland missile defense. 
(3) FORM.—The report required by paragraph 
(1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 
include a classified annex. 
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SEC. 5. EVALUATION AND EVOLUTION OF TERRESTRIAL 
GROUND-BASED MIDCOURSE DEFENSE SEN-
SORS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) United States missile defense sensors are 
the unheralded backbone of the missile defense ar-
chitecture of the United States, positioned to provide 
the Armed Forces with critical data needed to suc-
cessfully intercept threats from rogue nations like 
Iran and North Korea. 
(2) The United States uses a wide variety of 
UHF, L-, S-, and X-band ground-based sensors and 
only a few infrared space-based sensors for early 
warning, tracking, and discrimination of ballistic 
missiles. 
(3) The United States currently has operational 
upgraded early warning radars (UEWRs) for home-
land missile defense at Beale Air Force Base, Cali-
fornia, Fylingdales, United Kingdom, and Thule Air 
Force Base, Greenland, and will soon add upgrade 
early warning radars at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 
and Clear Air Force Station, Alaska. 
(4) Originally constructed in the 1970s, the 
COBRA DANE radar at Eareckson Air Station on 
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Shemya, Alaska, provides critical information on 
missile defense threats to the Armed Forces. 
(5) The Long Range Discrimination Radar 
(LRDR), a new, land-based, S-band radar on Clear 
Air Force Station will begin to deliver persistent 
long-range discrimination, precision tracking, and 
hit estimation when construction completes on the 
radar by 2020. 
(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 
of the Missile Defense Agency, in coordination with 
the Secretary of the Air Force, shall submit to the 
congressional defense committees (as defined in sec-
tion 101(a) of title 10, United States Code) a report 
on the status of the integrated layers of missile de-
fense radars. 
(2) CONTENTS.—The report required by para-
graph (1) shall include the following: 
(A) A detailed analysis of the expected im-
provements resulting from the integration of 
the Long Range Discrimination Radar into the 
missile defense system architecture of the 
United States, including— 
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(i) any adjustments to homeland mis-
sile defense tactics, techniques, and proce-
dures; 
(ii) possible adjustments to ground- 
based midcourse defense shot-doctrine and 
required interceptor capacity; 
(iii) possibilities for direct integration 
with Fort Greely’s Command and Control 
node; and 
(iv) impacts on regional missile de-
fense systems including Aegis Ballistic 
Missile Defense, Aegis Ashore, and Ter-
minal High Altitude Area Defense. 
(B) A detailed comparison of the capabili-
ties of Long Range Discrimination Radar and 
the COBRA DANE radar, including— 
(i) the unique capabilities of each 
radar; 
(ii) the overlapping capabilities of 
each radar; and 
(iii) the advantages and disadvantages 
of each radar’s location. 
(C) A modernization plan for the long-term 
continued operations and maintenance of the 
COBRA DANE radar or a plan to replace its 
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capability if COBRA DANE cannot remain 
operational, and the costs associated with each 
plan. 
(c) ASSESSMENT BY COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF 
THE UNITED STATES.—Not later than 90 days after the 
date on which the Director submits the report under sub-
section (b)(1), the Comptroller General of the United 
States shall— 
(1) complete a review of the plan required by 
subsection (b)(2)(C); and 
(2) submit to the congressional defense commit-
tees (as defined in section 101(a) of title 10, United 
States Code) a report on such review that includes 
the findings and recommendations of the Comp-
troller General. 
(d) FORM.—The reports submitted subsections (b) 
and (c) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 
include a classified annex. 
SEC. 6. DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF A SPACE- 
BASED MISSILE DEFENSE SENSOR ARCHITEC-
TURE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) The Missile Defense Agency currently oper-
ates the Space Tracking and Surveillance System- 
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Demonstration (STSS–D), a two satellite constella-
tion for testing purposes, which uses sensors capable 
of detecting visible and infrared light and serves as 
an experimental space tracker for the ballistic mis-
sile defense system. 
(2) Conceptually developed in 2009, the Preci-
sion Tracking Space (PTSS) would have provided 
the persistent space-based tracking of ballistic mis-
siles, including object characterization and discrimi-
nation, and would have also supported homeland, re-
gional, and theater missile defense. 
(3) Projected to enter orbit in 2018, the Missile 
Defense Agency and the Applied Physics Laboratory 
of Johns Hopkins University is currently conducting 
a Space-based Kill Assessment (SKA) experiment, a 
network of small sensors hosted on commercial sat-
ellites, used to collect the energy signature of the im-
pact between a ballistic missile threat and an inter-
ceptor from the ballistic missile defense system. 
(4) Section 236 of the National Defense Au-
thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 
113–66) required the Secretary of Defense to con-
duct an evaluation of options and alternatives for fu-
ture sensor architectures for ballistic missile defense 
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in order to enhance the ballistic missile defense ca-
pabilities of the United States. 
(5) General John Hyten, Commander of the 
United States Strategic Command, has argued for 
the ‘‘deployment of a global space-based sensor sys-
tem with discrimination capability’’ as a ‘‘critical 
component to improving the effectiveness of our de-
ployed interceptors’’ and to provide ‘‘multiple re-
sponse especially as potential adversaries embark on 
improving countermeasures against our [missile de-
fense] systems.’’. 
(6) Admiral James Syring, the Director of the 
Missile Defense Agency, has stated, ‘‘From a missile 
defense perspective, we have to develop a future 
operational space layer. Given where the threat is 
going with hypersonics and more ICBMs and so 
forth this persistent tracking and discrimination ca-
pability from space is a must.’’. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the Department of Defense shall develop a resil-
ient space-based missile defense sensor layer to provide 
persistent, launch-to-intercept tracking, discrimination, 
and kill assessment of ballistic missile threats and provide 
this capability to the Armed Forces as soon as technically 
feasible. 
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(c) SPACE-BASED MISSILE DEFENSE SENSOR AR-
CHITECTURE.— 
(1) DEVELOPMENT.—The Director of the Mis-
sile Defense Agency shall develop a highly reliable 
space-based missile defense sensor architecture for 
the ground-based midcourse defense system using 
sound acquisition practices. 
(2) DEPLOYMENT.—The Director shall— 
(A) conduct rigorous testing of the space- 
based missile defense sensor architecture devel-
oped under paragraph (1) as soon as technically 
feasible; and 
(B) produce and deploy a space-based mis-
sile defense sensor architecture as soon as tech-
nically feasible after the date on which the Di-
rector successfully carries out subparagraph 
(A). 
(d) CAPABILITIES
AND CRITERIA.—The Director 
shall ensure that the space-based missile defense sensor 
architecture developed under subsection (c)(1) provides 
the following functions and capabilities: 
(1) SENSOR FUNCTIONS.—At a minimum, mis-
sile defense-related sensors shall include the fol-
lowing: 
(A) Detection. 
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(B) Tracking. 
(C) Characterization. 
(D) Classification. 
(E) Discrimination. 
(F) Debris mitigation. 
(G) Kill assessment. 
(2) SENSOR ARCHITECTURE CAPABILITIES.—At 
a minimum, maximization or improvement of sensor- 
related capabilities shall include the following: 
(A) Handling of increasing raid sizes. 
(B) Precision tracking of threat missiles. 
(C) Providing fire-control-quality tracks of 
evolving threat missiles. 
(D) Enabling launch-on-remote and en-
gage-on-remote capabilities. 
(E) Discriminating lethal objects (war-
heads) from other objects. 
(F) Effectively assessing the results of en-
gagements. 
(G) Enabling enhanced shot doctrine. 
(H) Integrating with all elements of the 
current missile defense system, including the 
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, Aegis 
Ballistic Missile Defense, Aegis Ashore, and Pa-
triot Air and Missile Defense System. 
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(I) Such other capabilities as the Secretary 
of Defense determines appropriate. 
(e) PROGRAM MANAGEMENT.—The management of 
the space-based missile defense sensor architecture devel-
oped under subsection (c) shall report directly to the Dep-
uty Director of the Missile Defense Agency. 
(f) REPORT ON FUNDING PROFILE.—The Director 
shall include with the budget justification materials sub-
mitted to Congress in support of the budget of the Depart-
ment of Defense for fiscal year 2018 (as submitted with 
the budget of the President under section 1105(a) of title 
31, United States Code) a report on the funding profile 
necessary to carry out subsection (c). 
SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION FOR MORE GROUND-BASED MID-
COURSE DEFENSE TESTING. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) General John Hyten, Commander of the 
United States Strategic Command, stated that 
North Korea is quickly advancing their missile and 
nuclear technology because their rapid testing ca-
dence allows them to quickly apply lessons learned 
in testing to advance new capabilities. 
(2) General Hyten characterized the current ir-
regular testing environment in the United States as 
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‘‘the wrong kind of testing environment’’ due to 
risk-aversion and fear of failure. 
(3) Regular missile defense testing, including 
ground testing and non-intercept tests, not only im-
proves the missile defense system, but also gives the 
members of the Armed Forces experience with and 
confidence in their tactics, techniques, and proce-
dures. 
(4) Since 2006 and adjusted for inflation, fund-
ing for testing of the ground-based midcourse de-
fense element has decreased 83.5 percent, from more 
than $400,000,000 to $65,800,000. 
(5) Section 1689 of the National Defense Au-
thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (Public Law 
114–328) requires the Director of the Missile De-
fense Agency to administer a flight test of the 
ground-based midcourse defense element of the bal-
listic missile defense system at least once each fiscal 
year. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) at a minimum, the Missile Defense Agency 
should continue to flight test the ground-based mid-
course defense element at least once each fiscal year; 
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