Missile defense

Nuclear Threats Are Growing. How Should U.S. Missile Defenses Be Upgraded?

That is where most of the $50 billion spent on homeland defense over the last two decades has gone. GMD is the only system in the U.S. arsenal capable of intercepting intercontinental ballistic missiles headed for America.

The good news about the Ground-based Midcourse Defense is that it defends the entire U.S., so it can blunt a small attack coming from any direction—including, for example, an accidental missile launch by Russia.

The bad news is that it wouldn’t be hard for an enemy like North Korea to overwhelm GMD. At present there are only 44 interceptor missiles sitting in silos, and two to four of them might be needed to stop a single incoming nuclear warhead.

U.S. intelligence figures that the time is fast approaching when 44 interceptors won’t be enough to defeat a determined North Korean attack. Congress has already directed that the number of interceptors be increased by 20, and that the new interceptors be in their silos by 2022.