Next-Gen Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Interceptor Estimated Cost? Nearly $18B
Jen Judson | Defense News
The Pentagon’s Next-Generation Interceptor — a weapon the department is competitively developing to replace the current ground-based interceptors within the United States — will cost nearly $18 billion across the life of the program. An independent cost estimate from the Defense Department’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) office — first reported by Bloomberg and since obtained by Defense News — has determined the total cost to develop the NGI will come to roughly $13 billion while procurement as well as operation and sustainment will come to a little over $2 billion each.
Military Blames Radar Blind Spot for Inaccurate Assessment of N.K. Missiles
Yonhap News Agency
The military initially failed to accurately determine how far North Korea flew ballistic missiles last month because of “blind spot” areas that radars in South Korea have due to the Earth’s roundness, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Thursday. Defense Minister Suh Wook said on Wednesday that Pyongyang’s ballistic missiles fired on March 25 flew around 600 kilometers after conducting a pull-up maneuver, while the JCS said on the day of testing that they were presumed to have traveled around 450 km. The revision sparked concerns over the military’s missile detection ability at a time when North Korea is working to boost missile capabilities.
U.S. Eyes Major Rollback in Iran Sanctions to Revive Nuke Deal
Matthew Lee | Associated Press
The Biden administration is considering a near wholesale rollback of some of the most stringent Trump-era sanctions imposed on Iran in a bid to get the Islamic Republic to return to compliance with a landmark 2015 nuclear accord, according to current and former U.S. officials and others familiar with the matter. As indirect talks continue this week in Vienna to explore the possibility of reviving the nuclear deal, American officials have become increasingly expansive about what they might be prepared to offer Iran, which has been driving a hard line on sanctions relief, demanding that all U.S. penalties be removed, according to these people.
France Carries Out Unusual Ballistic Missile Test as American Spy Plane Looks On
Joseph Trevithick | The Drive
France says it successfully conducted a test launch of an M51 submarine-launched ballistic missile earlier today from a land-based site on the country’s northwestern Bay of Biscay coastline. Online flight tracking software also showed a U.S. Air Force RC-135S Cobra Ball aircraft, which is specifically configured to gather intelligence about ballistic missile tests, flying near where the weapon’s inert payload was expected to impact the Atlantic Ocean north of Bermuda. Warning notices ahead of this test had indicated certain peculiarities, as The War Zone explored earlier this week, which had prompted discussion about whether this might have been a test of a new M51 variant or even a hypersonic weapon.
Biden’s Pentagon Policy Chief Colin Kahl Confirmed With GOP Senators Absent
Joe Gould | Defense News
The Senate confirmed Colin Kahl to be the undersecretary of defense for policy in a 49-45 party-line vote Tuesday. With Kahl’s confirmation, the former national security adviser to then-Vice President Biden will assume the No. 3 civilian job at the Pentagon, overseeing strategy, nuclear deterrence, missile defense, international cooperation, and plans and policies. Unlike a procedural vote last week, GOP absences Tuesday meant there was no dramatic tie for Vice President Kamala Harris to break.
Missile Defense: Fiscal Year 2020 Delivery and Testing Progressed, but Annual Goals Unmet
United States Government Accountability Office
In fiscal year 2020, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) made progress toward achieving its delivery and testing goals for some of the individual systems—known as elements—that combine and integrate to create the Missile Defense System (also known as the Ballistic Missile Defense System). However, MDA did not complete its overall planned deliveries or annual testing.