MEADS Spending

Spending $800 million to wind down the U.S. contribution to the Medium Extended Area Defense System over the next two fiscal years "simply makes no sense," House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee Chairman Michael Turner (R-OH) said this morning.

"We must ensure that missile defense dollars are not squandered," Turner told attendees of a National Defense University Foundation breakfast on Capitol Hill. "The budget request contains approximately $400 million in 2012 and another $400 million next year for the Medium Extended Area Defense System (MEADS) . . . that the department does not plan to continue beyond design and development due to cost and schedule overruns.

"I understand the government's contract termination obligations, but spending $800 million on a program that is not going forward into production simply makes no sense," he continued. "And these resources could be reallocated to other missile defense priorities."

When asked later on in the session what dollar amount would make more sense to him, Turner responded:

I think that there needs to be a significant effort on the part of DOD to negotiate a closure of the program that does not have that amount spent -- the $800 million. What we basically have is, DOD coming and saying that there's no wiggle room, that it's a set amount of cost, and that certainly cannot be. There are a number of programs and tradeoffs; there are areas where we can find savings, so our goal is going to be to apply pressure on the Department of Defense to get some savings and reductions in that amount, and we're going to be trying to accomplish that in our mark for the subcommittee. I think everyone wants to see the program wind down responsibly, but at the same time just not waste money, and the sticker price for winding it down cannot be the last answer.

Other lawmakers, however, think the United States should stop spending money on the program immediately, as Inside the Army reported on Monday:

Senior acquisition officials from the United States, Germany and Italy last week approved a plan to bring the development of the Medium Extended Air Defense System to an end within two years following the U.S. decision in February to quit the program, according to U.S. government and industry officials.

Endorsement of the national armament directors, or NADs, comes after the lower-level MEADS board of directors approved the "Increment 1" plan in March, as Inside the Army reported last month (ITA, March 28, p1).

The April 6 decision on the sidelines of a NATO Conference of National Armament Directors in Brussels follows a series of animated congressional hearings in Washington, where some lawmakers believe the United States should stop spending money on the program immediately. According to the terms of a 2004 memorandum of understanding, the remaining U.S. obligation is roughly $800 million over two more years.

Much of the frustration among lawmakers, led by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), is rooted in an assessment by Army Secretary John McHugh, who questioned Defense Department plans to finish the MEADS development phase and salvage whatever technology may come of it without fielding. "The $800 million proof of concept that you mentioned, we're not convinced is viable," McHugh told Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) during a March 3 House Armed Services Committee hearing.

In a March 31 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, McHugh said there would be "some value" in providing "goodwill" to Germany and Italy by staying in the program for another two years. He also acknowledged the benefits a "technology package" to be obtained in the end, but told Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) he was unsure what it would consist of.