In the 2007 defense authorization bill, still awaiting signature by the President, lawmakers have curtailed spending on the space-based interceptor program until 90 days after the Missile Defense Agency supplies a comprehensive report. The report must include a description of the system’s “essential components” and its relationship to other missile defense systems, an estimate of acquisition and life cycle costs, a countermeasures vulnerability analysis, and a “projection of the foreign policy and national security implications.”
The Sentinel Launch Support System, the digital backbone for testing the new intercontinental ballistic missile over its expected 50-year life, has completed critical design review, Northrop Grumman said Oct. 20.
