Sec. 1652. Additional missile defense sensor coverage for the protection of the United States homeland
332 words·~2 min read·
/bill/114/hr/1735/pap/section-1652·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress makes the following findings: According to the Director of the Missile Defense Agency, there are two fundamental means for improving homeland missile defense capability and capacity, one, is the reliability of the interceptor, and two, is the discrimination capability of the system . The Department of Defense will deploy a new midcourse tracking radar to provide persistent coverage and improve discrimination capabilities against threats to the United States homeland from the Pacific region.
According to the Director of the Missile Defense Agency, a long-range discrimination radar will provide larger hit assessment coverage thereby enabling improved warfighting capabilities to manage ground-based interceptor
(GBI)inventory and improve the capacity of the ballistic missile defense system. According to the Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, while Iran has not yet deployed an intercontinental ballistic missile, its progress on space launch vehicles—along with its desire to deter the United States and its allies—provides Tehran with the means and motivation to develop longer-range missiles, including an ICBM. Iran publically stated that it intends to launch a space-launch vehicle as early as this year capable of intercontinental ranges, if configured as such . It is the sense of Congress that— the currently deployed ground-based midcourse defense system protects the entire United States homeland, including the East Coast, against the threat of limited ballistic missile attack from North Korea and Iran; and additional missile defense sensor discrimination capabilities are needed to enhance the protection of the United States homeland against potential long-range ballistic missiles from Iran that, according to the Department of Defense, could soon be obtained by Iran as a result of its active space launch program. The Director of the Missile Defense Agency shall, in cooperation with the relevant combatant command, deploy by not later than December 31, 2020, a long-range discrimination radar or other appropriate tracking and discrimination sensor capabilities in a location optimized to support the defense of the homeland of the United States from emerging long-range ballistic missile threats from Iran.