I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2596
To provide for a testing program for the Navy Theater-Wide system and
the Theater High-Altitude Area Defense system.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 22, 1999
Mr. VITTER (for himself, Mr. HUNTER, and Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Armed Services
A BILL
To provide for a testing program for the Navy Theater-
Wide system and the Theater High-Altitude Area De-
fense system.
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 ‘‘Realistic Tests for Re-
alistic Threats National Security Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Government of North Korea, on Au-
gust 31, 1998, launched a three-stage rocket called
the Taepo Dong I.
(2) The Taepo Dong rocket, when configured
and deployed as a ballistic missile, will pose a threat
to United States military forces deployed in Asia, to
Asian allies of the United States, and possibly to the
United States itself.
(3) The United States is committed to pro-
tecting both its forward deployed forces, its allies in
Asia, and United States citizens against the threat
of ballistic missile attack through the development
and deployment of ballistic missile defense systems,
including the Navy Theater-Wide system and the
Theater High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) sys-
tem.
(4) The Taepo Dong I rocket, when configured
as a ballistic missile, is estimated to have a max-
imum velocity greater than the velocity of the tar-
gets in currently planned tests against target of ei-
ther the Navy Theater-Wide system or the Theater
High Altitude Area Defense system. If these systems
are not tested against target missiles with velocities
comparable to the maximum velocity of the Taepo
Dong I missile, the United States will not be capable
of meeting the threat posed by the near-term deploy-
ment of that missile by North Korea.
(5) Both the Navy Theater-Wide system and
the Theater High Altitude Area Defense system
should be tested in a way to demonstrate their re-
spective capabilities to intercept missiles with the
flight characteristics, and particularly with the max-
imum velocity, of the Taepo Dong I missile.
SEC. 3. TESTING OF THE NAVY THEATER-WIDE SYSTEM
AND THE THEATER HIGH-ALTITUDE AREA DE-
FENSE SYSTEM.
(a) TESTS.—The Director of the Ballistic Missile De-
fense Organization of the Department of Defense shall,
no later than September 30, 2001, conduct at least one
intercept test of the Navy Theater-Wide defense system
and at least one intercept test of the Theater High Alti-
tude Area Defense (THAAD) system against target mis-
siles with velocities not less than the maximum velocity
of the Taepo Dong I missile of North Korea.
(b) PROGRAM MANAGEMENT.—The Director of the
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization shall take imme-
diate steps to modify plans for managing the development
of the Navy Theater-Wide system and the Theater High
Altitude Area Defense system to meet the deadline for the
conduct of the intercept tests required by subsection (a).
(c) SYSTEM CONFIGURATION.—The Director of the
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, in order to improve
the likelihood that the intercept tests required by sub-
section (a) are successful, should review changes in the
configuration of the Navy Theater-Wide system and the
Theater High Altitude Area Defense system—
(1) to increase the speed of their interceptor
missiles to well in excess of three kilometers-per-sec-
ond; and
(2) to allow the interceptor missiles of those
systems to receive and use targeting data provided
by a variety of external sensors, including shipboard
radar, airborne sensors, ground-based radar, and
satellite sensors.
(d) FUNDING.—The preparations for, and the con-
duct of, the tests required by subsection (a) shall be paid
out of funds available to the Navy Theater-Wide program
and the Theater High Altitude Area Defense program.
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