{"id":14311,"date":"2019-05-28T21:12:26","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T21:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/05\/28\/pentagon-hits-pause-on-redesign-of-critical-homeland-missile-defense-component\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:26:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:26:40","slug":"pentagon-hits-pause-on-redesign-of-critical-homeland-missile-defense-component","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2019\/05\/28\/pentagon-hits-pause-on-redesign-of-critical-homeland-missile-defense-component\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon hits pause on redesign of critical homeland missile defense component"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The Pentagon has hit the pause button on a troubled effort to redesign the kill vehicle on the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system\u2019s interceptors after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/smr\/federal-budget\/2019\/03\/13\/missile-defense-review-ambitions-not-reflected-in-mdas-94b-fy20-budget\/\" target=_blank>reporting a two-year delay in its development earlier this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The GMD system is designed to defend against possible ballistic missile attacks from North Korea and Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Michael Griffin, the under secretary of defense for research and engineering, has decided to issue a stop-work order to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2018\/02\/01\/boeing-wins-66-billion-deal-to-support-missile-defense-system-build-more-interceptors\/\" target=\"_blank\">Boeing on the development of the Redesigned Kill Vehicle<\/a> \u2014 or RKV \u2014 which was first reported by Inside Defense last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Boeing was directed to stop work on the RKV on May 24, a company spokesman confirmed to Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/pentagon\/2018\/06\/05\/is-the-missile-defense-agency-shooting-blind-on-contracts\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/35024227434_57212863b6_o.jpg_87fdea.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Is the Missile Defense Agency shooting blind on contracts?<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The U.S. Missile Defense Agency needs to work on its communication skills, according to a new report from a government watchdog.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The RKV is meant to replace the current Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicles on all current and future GMD interceptors \u2014 a total of 64 ultimately. The EKV, designed to destroy targets in high-speed collisions after separating from a booster rocket, has struggled in testing but has performed reliably in major test events in recent years <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2019\/03\/25\/homeland-missile-defense-system-takes-out-icbm-threat-in-historic-salvo-test\/\" target=_blank>including a complex salvo test earlier this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2017\/11\/07\/final-ground-based-missile-defense-interceptor-in-place-at-fort-greely\/\" target=\"_blank\">44 GBIs in place at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California<\/a>, with plans to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/congress\/2017\/11\/17\/countering-north-korea-hill-authorizes-major-buildup-in-homeland-missile-defense\/\" target=\"_blank\">add 22 additional missile silos at Fort Greely to support 20 more GBIs. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The RKV was due out for a critical design review in 2018 but that CDR was delayed by two years in the Missile Defense Agency\u2019s fiscal year 2020 budget request released in March. The agency requested $412.4 million in FY20 to develop the RKV. The plan was to conduct the first controlled flight test of the RKV in FY22 with an intercept flight test in FY23 and a second test in 2024. As a result of the delay of the RKV CDR, the plan was to finish up the installation of the 20 new GBIs at Greely in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We came through a preliminary design review as we approached the critical design review at the end of last year,\u201d Rear Adm. Jon Hill, the MDA deputy director, said during a March Pentagon briefing. \u201cWe did not believe as a government team that we were ready to take that step into that critical design review, and so, through coordination in the department, all the way up to the undersecretary for research and engineering, we determined that the best thing to do was to go back and assess that design and take the time to do it right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hill added, alluding to the previous struggles with the GMD exoatmospheric kill vehicle: \u201cWe could do what some programs do and what the Missile Defense Agency did years ago, which was to go ahead and produce what we\u2019ve got and then deal with reliability issues within the fleet and then erode the confidence of the war fighter. We know that is the wrong step.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon &#8220;recently encountered a technical issue in Missile Defense Agency\u2019s redesigned kill vehicle development program,\u201d Heather Babb, Defense Department spokeswoman, told Defense News in a May 28 statement. \u201cThe RKV team has been assessing and testing as needed, suspect components.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After receiving recent test results, Griffin, \u201chas determined that the current plan is not viable and has initiated an analysis of alternative courses of action,\u201d Babb said. \u201cTo avoid unnecessary expenditures, USD(R&amp;E) has directed the Missile Defense Agency to issue a stop work on the RKV activity within the current Boeing contract until a viable path forward is identified.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon did not say how long the analysis of alternatives might take to complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the case of the current RKV program, Boeing was executing the MDA\u2019s design plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe government has indicated that they have initiated an analysis of alternative courses of action and we will support them in this effort as requested,\u201d the company said in its statement. \u201cBoeing will continue to support requirements for our customers and national decision makers set forth for effective missile defense, as we have for more than two decades.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Missile Defense Agency Director Gen. Samuel Greaves said, during a Senate Armed Services Committee missile defense hearing earlier this spring, that the issue was not contractor-related but a technical one, but he would not provide details because they are classified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the April hearing, MDA appeared to still be focused on proceeding with the RKV program with only the schedule in question. Greaves said the agency was testing components and the timeline for the program might be adjusted over the next few months. He said he believed once the component testing wrapped up the timeline could be shortened, but added, \u201cit could go the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2017\/05\/30\/missile-takedown-historic-icbm-intercept-test-sends-strong-message-to-north-korea\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/ground-based-midcourse-defense-system-icbm-test.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Missile takedown: Historic ICBM intercept test sends strong message to North Korea<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">A monumental intercept test for the United States\u2019 critical homeland defense system designed to defend against intercontinental ballistic missile threats from North Korea and Iran was a success, the Missile Defense Agency announced Tuesday shortly after the test.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s unclear what alternative paths might be assessed during the strategic pause, but some options could be tweaking the design for the RKV to get it back on track or MDA could look at an alternate path that isn\u2019t just outfitting all present and future GBIs with the current EKV or jumping straight to the development of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2015\/11\/24\/contractors-complete-key-multi-object-kill-vehicle-program-review\/\" target=_blank>Multi-Object Kill Vehicle (MOKV)<\/a>, but one that addresses taking out multiple targets \u2014 or volume kills \u2014 with one vehicle. The MOKV is to follow the RKV effort, but preliminary work on its development has been ongoing for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And the Pentagon could use this as an opportunity to restructure contracts or recompete the entire GMD program, suggested Tom Karako, a missile defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The decision could \u201crepresent an inflection point\u201d for homeland missile defense in its entirety, Karako told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s clear, he said, capability over and above the current kill vehicle is needed \u2014 the Defense Department has already spent a fair amount of money on the RKV program \u2014 but the Pentagon also has a chance to look at the overall balance of funding to address the North Korea threat and investments to deal with very different missile threats from Russia and China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Pentagon is taking a strategic pause on its Redesigned Kill Vehicle &#8212; a key future component of the Ground-Based Interceptors, which make up the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System designed to defend the homeland against possible threats from North Korea and Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,14,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3330],"class_list":["post-14311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-land","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"4RVDUL2W6VBPZD722QUOG36P2Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/pentagon\/2019\/05\/28\/pentagon-hits-pause-on-redesign-of-critical-homeland-missile-defense-component\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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