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Opening
Statement of Chairman Terry Everett
Hearing on
the Fiscal Year 2005
National Defense Authorization Budget Request
for Missile Defense Programs
General Kadish
is here today to cover the Missile Defense
Agency’s budget request for 2005. That request
is for $9.1 billion and includes various
program elements supporting the concept of
"layered defenses". These include:
•
Ground-based Midcourse Defense
• Aegis BMD
• Airborne Laser
• Kinetic Energy Interceptors, and
• THAAD
In December of
2002, the President announced the decision to
begin fielding an initial capability by the
end of 2004. General Kadish and his team at
the Missile Defense Agency have been working
very hard to make the initial defensive
operations a reality. This event represents a
most significant milestone, building upon
concepts first announced by President Reagan a
little over twenty years ago. Since its
inception, this subcommittee has displayed
strong bipartisan support for fielding this
initial defensive operations capability.
Interceptors
are scheduled to be placed on alert this fall
at Ft. Greely, Alaska. Our members will be
very interested in hearing of your progress in
fielding this initial capability as well as
receiving an update on the status of other
programs.
General Dodgen,
from the Army’s Space and Missile Defense
Command, will cover the Army’s $1 billion
budget request for
• the
PATRIOT system
• the PAC-3 missile and,
• the Medium Extended Air Defense System
known as MEADS.
The Honorable
Tom Christie will provide the Department of
Defense’s perspectives on testing of missile
defense systems. Mr. Christie, I know we all
look forward to hearing your views on this
topic, especially as it relates to fielding
the initial defensive operations capability
later this year.
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