Breaking Defense:
WASHINGTON: The Navy is looking to get out of the missile defense business, the service’s top admiral said today, and the Pentagon’s new missile defense review might give the service the off-ramp it has been looking for to stop sailing in circles waiting for ground-based missile launches.
This wasn’t the first time Adm. John Richardson bristled in public over his ships sailing in “small boxes” at sea tasked with protecting land, when they could be out performing other missions challenging Chinese and Russian adventurism in the South China Sea and the North Atlantic.
His comments come days after the Pentagon finally released its long-awaited Missile Defense Review which doubled down on plans to develop a space-based sensor layer that can track — and potentially zap — missiles fired not only by Iran and North Korea, but competitors like China and Russia, as well.
