By Thomas Karako, The Cipher Brief: “Of the four basic families of U.S. missile defense programs, the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) program is the only one devoted exclusively to long-range missile threats to the homeland. Others, like the Aegis Standard Missile, THAAD, and Patriot are tailored to defeat missiles of lesser range, and although some support homeland applications through the larger Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS), they are in the first instance for regional defense or force protection. GMD has a considerably larger defended area than that of any other BMD system.”
By Daniel Gouré, RealClearDefense: “The very success of the latest test highlights two long-standing problems with the U.S. approach to missile defense. The first is the slow pace of progress in the overall program. This is a function of a number of factors. One is clearly resources. The MDA is being asked to pursue too many technologies and support too many programs for the funding levels available over the past eight years. If the Trump Administration is serious about defending the nation, a 50 percent addition to the missile defense budget is in order.”
Supercomputers and the Third Offset
By Patrick Kennedy, The Strategist (ASPI): “Paraphrased, the US Third Offset strategy runs something like ‘bolstering US conventional deterrence through technological and operational innovation’. The strategy hinges on innovation,and sees the integration of autonomy into weapon systems and organisational constructs as a decisive advantage. But innovation is prized around the world, and it’s risky to pin hopes to a possible monopoly on innovation, or the ability to leverage innovation into military effects.