US Strategic Command boss Gen. Robert Kehler on Wednesday said he remains confident in the ability of the nation’s missile shield to protect the US homeland from a limited attack, despite its failure to shoot down the target missile in a test over the Pacific Ocean earlier this month. But he also said he wants to see the system—known as the Ground-based Midcourse Defense element—tested more often. “I am concerned with the recent test failure and I would like to see more testing done,” Kehler told reporters during a meeting in Washington, D.C. “I still have confidence in the system, but I think we have work to do in the test program to make sure we can sustain that level of confidence,” he said. Kehler said he’d like for the pace of GMD flight testing to increase, such that there is one test conducted per year. His comments echoed those of Vice Adm. James Syring, Missile Defense Agency director, before Congress last week.
The Pentagon’s new counter-drone task force will play a direct role in arming Airmen with new weapons to defend Air Force agile combat employment, or ACE, air bases in austere locations against enemy drone attacks, the director of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 said Oct. 14.
