Discontinued Programs

In 2009, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced a significant reshaping of the Pentagon’s Budget.[1] Gates announced that the Missile Defense Agency’s budget would be cut by $1.4 billion and programs under development would be cancelled including a second Air Born Laser prototype aircraft and the Multiple Kill Vehicle. The 2010 Ballistic Missile Defense Review outlined the rationale for cancelling these programs:

The President has made clear that the United States will move forward with missile defenses that are affordable, proven, and responsive to the threat. This primarily means that the Department of Defense will realign spending away from defenses planned to rely on currently immature technology, away from technologies that require unrealistic concepts of operations in order to be effective, and away from technologies intended to defeat adversarial missile threats that do not exist and are not expected to evolve in the near to midterm. These considerations led to the decisions to terminate both the Multiple Kill Vehicle and Kinetic Energy Interceptor programs and to shift the Airborne Laser to a technology demonstration program in the FY 2010 budget. [2]

Sources

[1] Robert Gates,“Defense Budget Recommendation Statement (Arlington, VA),” The Department of Defense, April 6, 2009, Accessed November 5, 2014. http://www.defense.gov/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1341.

[2] “Ballistic Missile Defense Review” The Department of Defense, February 2010, Accessed November 5, 2014, http://www.defense.gov/bmdr/docs/BMDR%20as%20of%2026JAN10%200630_for%20web.pdf.


Below are some discontinued missile defense programs:

 

EPAA Phase 4

Phase 4, Original Planned Deployment Date: 2020 (Cancelled) Missile Platforms and Numbers The platforms supporting the SM-3 interceptors under Phase

Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS)

Facts Mobility Land-based, moderate mobility Role Detect and track cruise missiles, drones, rockets, vehicles, and maritime surface vessels Range Detect threats up

Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI)

Quick Facts Mobility Multi-use land/sea deployable mobile defense system Targets Planned for all types of ballistic missiles Role Extended coverage

Network Centric Airborne Defense Element (NCADE)

The Network Centric Airborne Defense Element (NCADE) is a small, low-cost, air-launched, anti-ballistic missile developed by Raytheon and Aerojet and

Precision Tracking Space System (PTSS)

Facts: Mobility Space-based Role Use space-based sensors to track missiles during the post-boost phase of flight Status Cancelled Producer The

Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS)

The Space Tracking and Surveillance System-Demonstration (STSS-D) satellites were designed as demonstration satellites with a four-year in-orbit lifespan. The original

Surfaced-Launched Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (SLAMRAAM)

The SLAMRAAM system was designed by Ratheon to replace the Stinger Missile as the Army’s primary short-range air defense weapon.