MDA hopeful of missile defence investment boost
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is hoping for additional dollars to bolster directed energy and hypersonic weapons development, as well as space-based sensors to detect the latter.
During an 17 April hearing by the House Armed Services subcommittee on Strategic Forces, top brass laid out the DoD's vision for missile defence and answered questions about the president's FY2019 budget request.
Questions over US investments to develop emerging weapons such as high-energy lasers capable of shooting down ballistic missiles during the boost phase took centre stage, as well as hypersonic missiles and the technologies needed to counter such threats.
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