Senate authorizers ask appropriators to fund boost-phase missile defense project

Two lawmakers on the Senate Armed Services Committee are urging Senate appropriators to include funding in their fiscal year 2018 spending bill for a Defense Department project that promises to deliver a boost-phase missile defense solution in 18 months or less.

In a Dec. 1 letter, Sens. James Inhofe (R-OK) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) ask top Senate appropriators to designate $100 million for the "rapid development and deployment of a new kinetic boost phase missile defense technology" in their FY-18 spending bill. The letter was sent to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) and Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-IL).

Cochran released his chairman's mark of the FY-18 bill last week. The legislation, which busts mandatory spending caps by $32 billion, includes $9.3 billion for missile defense.

Inhofe and Sullivan want the appropriators to set aside $100 million for a project known as the High Altitude Long Endurance Kinetic Boost Phase Intercept, according to their letter. The system would make use of remotely piloted unmanned vehicles loitering in international airspace at a safe standoff distance over international waters, the letter states.

"When fielded, this system could detect and engage North Korean missiles in their boost phase and potentially confine North Korean ICBMs to airspace over (or close to) North Korea -- protecting American families and our allies," it continues.

They claim the system can be built within 12 to 18 months. The unmanned aerial vehicles and detection technology already exist, while the missile interceptor would be developed by making "minor technical modifications of already existing missiles," according to the letter.

The funding for the project was initially identified by DOD as part of a $6 billion supplemental spending request sent over to Congress last month. The supplemental request included an extra $4 billion for missile defense and defeat projects.