It seems we missed a relatively important feature of the last test of the Missile Defense Agency’s ground-based ballistic missile interceptor system in that it provided the first occasion for airmen at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., to actually launch an interceptor missile from a Vandy MDA silo. “This was a huge launch for us,” said Col. Jack Weinstein, commander of 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg. The Pentagon plans ultimately to deploy two interceptors in silos at Vandenberg, in addition to up to 16 in Alaska.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
