Missile Defense (Formerly Weapons of Mass Destruction) May 22, 2022

Missile Defense

The return of great power competition coincides with the emergence of an age of missiles. The United States competes with a rising China and increasingly unstable and provocative Russia to shape security architectures and global norms and practices. In addition to Russia and China, the missile threat emanating from the rogue nations of North Korea and Iran toward the United States and its interests is evolving, and so must the United States’ ability to counter these rising threats. The U.S. missile defense enterprise is challenged to effectively counter adversaries’ growing offensive capabilities, including cruise missiles and hypersonic glide vehicles (HGV). A weak defense industrial base (DIB), the need to reallocate responsibilities amongst the entities involved with missile defense research, development, procurement, and sustainment, as well as the need to update the U.S. missile defense strategy and increase the speed and effectiveness of research and development hamper the U.S.’s ability to provide adequate missile defense.

Missile Defense March 23, 2021

Missile Defense

The 2021 National Defense University Eisenhower School Missile Defense Industry Study examined the missile defense industry to gain strategic perspective on the U.S. and global industrial base that supports the resource requirements of national security. The data we gathered through academic research and site visits with missile defense customers and capability providers shed light on the need for the U.S. government to integrate missile defense and nuclear deterrence strategies, focus investments on innovative capabilities that provide a high return on investment, and provide resources to enable new worker and small business entry into the Defense Industrial Base. This report documents the research, analytic processes, and gathered insights of the study team regarding the missile defense segment of the Defense Industrial Base. It provides our policy recommendations for national and defense leaders to improve the layered missile defense system and assist missile defense capability providers by: •Strengthening and unifying U.S. policy on missile defense •Leveraging alliances and reengaging competitors •Investing in disruptive, high return weapons •Using modeling and simulation to drive investment •Addressing industrial base and supply chain vulnerabilities

Missile Defense (Formerly Weapons of Mass Destruction) Sept. 16, 2020

Missile Defense

Homeland and regional missile defense are clear strategic imperatives in foundational national security directives to protect Americans and their way of life. An uncertain economy and possible reductions to the defense budget, however, necessitate an examination into a more affordable ballistic missile defense architecture. This paper applies a thorough analysis of the current missile defense industrial base, research into the roles of government in diplomacy and international collaboration, and a study of supplemental capabilities and technologies. Our team proposes an interoperable, multilayered missile defense architecture utilizing domestic and foreign systems, resulting from collaborative processes across an international industrial base and persistent diplomatic engagements with allies and great power competitors. These findings imply a needed shift in the current missile defense strategy and reassertion of U.S. global leadership and diplomacy.