The Missile Defense Agency plans to severely cut back its effort to build a land-based Kinetic Energy Interceptor that can destroy ballistic missiles during their early, boost phase of flight, slicing $800 million from the program's budget in fiscal year 2006 and shelving international participation for at least two years, a senior Defense Department official said Feb. 4. The cut to the KEI program is outlined in the president's FY-06 defense budget request due to Congress today. MDA is slated...
