AMENDMENT NO. 2452
Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Pryor, I offer an amendment which will establish testing requirements for theater missile defense interceptor missiles . This amendment is supported by both the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and Director of Operational Test and Evaluation in the Pentagon.
I believe this amendment has been cleared on the other side.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
The Senator from Georgia [Mr. Nunn], for Mr. Pryor, proposes an amendment numbered 2452.
Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment is as follows:
On page 49, between lines 14 and 15, insert the following:
SEC. 224. TESTING OF THEATER MISSILE DEFENSE INTERCEPTORS.
(a) The Secretary of Defense may not approve a theater missile defense interceptor program proceeding beyond the low-rate initial production acquisition stage until the Secretary certifies to the congressional defense committees that such program has successfully completed initial operational test and evaluation, and is found to be a suitable and effective system.
(b) In order to be certified under subsection (a) as having been successfully completed, the initial operational test and evaluation conducted with respect to an interceptor program must have included flight tests--
(1) that were conducted with multiple interceptors and multiple targets in the presence of realistic countermeasures; and
(2) the results of which demonstrate the achievement by the interceptors of the baseline performance thresholds.
(c) For purposes of this section, the baseline performance thresholds with respect to a program are the weapons systems performance thresholds specified in the baseline description for the system established (pursuant to section 2435(a)(1) of title 10, United States Code) before the program entered the engineering and manufacturing development stage.
(d) The number of flight tests described in subsection (b) that are required in order to make the certification under subsection (a) shall be a number determined by the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation to be sufficient for the purposes of th is section.
(e) The Secretary may augment flight testing to demonstrate weapons system performance goals for purposes of the certification under subsection (a) through the use of modeling and simulation that is validated by ground and flight testing.
(f) The Director of Operational Test and Evaluation and Ballistic Missile Defense Organization shall include in their annual reports to Congress plans to adequately test theater missile defense interceptor programs throughout the acquis ition process. As these theater missile defense systems progress through the acquisition process, the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation and Ballistic Missile Defense Organization shall include in their annual reports to Congress an assessment of how these programs satisfy planned test objectives.
Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I rise to offer an amendment on behalf of Senator Nunn, Senator Bingaman, and myself to restore some common sense to the Missile Defense Act of 1995 .
As my colleagues know, the Missile Defense Act of 1995 contains an aggressive program to develop and deploy theater missile defenses in the form of sophisticated missile interceptors.
I say to my colleagues--if we want to protect ourselves from the threat of theater missile attacks, let's make sure the interceptors are capable of destroying incoming missiles !
I was disappointed that this bill deleted a provision passed by Congress 2 years ago that would help us monitor these programs through a series of live-fire tests.
I believe it would be dangerous for the Senate to show a lack of interest in monitoring the progress of our theater missile defense interceptors. Our primary concern should be in making sure they are maturing properly.
Mr. President, I am pleased that the Director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization [BMDO] and the Pentagon's Director of Operational Testing agreed to work together in an effort to help us properly emphasize the importance of testing o ur TMD interceptor programs.
I applaud the Director of the BMDO, Gen. Malcolm O'Neill, and the Director of Operational Testing, Phil Coyle, for working cooperatively in this effort.
Mr. President, this is a responsible amendment that asks the Pentagon to periodically assess the maturity of each interceptor program, and to advise Congress on the progress we're making. It also asks the Secretary of Defense to certify to Cong ress that these programs work properly before they enter into full-rate production. Finally, this amendment will help prevent the wasteful practice of building weapon systems that do not work as expected.
This concept, Mr. President, is commonly referred to as fly before you buy. Fly before you buy means that new weapons must demonstrate their progress and maturity in operational testing so that we do not waste money buying systems that do not work.
I am proud to say, Mr. President, that with this amendment, the weapon developers in the BMDO office and the Pentagon's testers have worked together to reach an agreement on the proposed language.
This is a remarkable accomplishment that the entire U.S. Senate should applaud.
This is exactly the type of productive cooperation that Senator Grassley, Senator Roth and I envisioned when we wrote the legislation creating the independent testing office back in 1983. Developers and testers working together for a common goal. Unfortunately, for many years, the developers have refused to allow operational testers to monitor their progress. Too often in the Pentagon, the word `test' is considered a four-letter word.
This is exactly the scenario we should avoid with our interceptor programs.
We have already spent over $5 billion on theater missile defense interceptors. In this bill, an additional $2 billion is authorized for these programs. And the total costs are projected to exceed $22 billion!
As we continue spending more and more on ballistic missile defenses , let us not forget the most basic and most important element of these programs--making sure they work.
I wish to once again thank Gen. Malcolm O'Neill for his cooperation. Also, special thanks to Mr. Phil Coyle for his outstanding leadership as the Pentagon's testing czar. Thanks also to Larry Miller of Mr. Coyle's staff for his tremendous efforts in he lping to prepare this amendment.
Mr. President, I thank the managers of this bill for accepting this amendment.
I yield the floor.
[Page: S12598]
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, the amendment is acceptable. The Senator is correct, we support the amendment and urge its adoption.
Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I urge the adoption of the amendment.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the amendment.
The amendment (No. 2452) was agreed to.
Mr. NUNN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was agreed to.
Mr. WARNER. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
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