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 Air Force’s BACN may be cooked—the service plans to retire its entire E-11A Battlefield Airborne Communications Node fleet in fiscal 2028 and equip aircraft to use satellite communications instead.