USNI News

To get to a layered, in-depth homeland missile defense system developing key networking and communications links between ballistic missile defense ships and at-shore installations is crucial, the head of the Missile Defense Agency said this week.

A layered BMD network is necessary to deter great powers like Russia and China, and regional challengers like North Korea, Vice Adm. John Hill, director of the Missile Defense Agency, said Tuesday.

“We need global coverage” in sensors, from the ground and sea to space to identify threats, Hill said during a Heritage Foundation event. “What we really need is to have that global coverage for maneuverability” that would take into account hypersonic weapons on cruise missiles, an area where Moscow and Beijing have made steady and large investments.

“These are complementary systems,” Rebecca Heinrichs, a missile defense expert at the forum at the Heritage Foundation, said, referring to Aegis Ashore and the BMD systems on ships, Army Patriot, and Terminal High-Altitude Area defense systems.

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