Sec. 1653. Ground-based interceptor capability, capacity, and reliability
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It is the sense of the Senate that it is the policy of the United States to maintain and improve, with the allies of the United States, an effective, robust layered missile defense system capable of defending the citizens of the United States residing in territories and States of the United States, allies of the United States, and deployed Armed Forces of the United States. The Secretary of Defense shall— subject to the annual authorization of appropriations and the annual appropriation of funds for National Missile Defense, increase the number of United States ground-based interceptors, unless otherwise directed by the Ballistic Missile Defense Review, by up to 28; develop a plan to further increase such number to the currently available missile field capacity of 104 and to plan for any future capacity at any site that may be identified by the Ballistic Missile Defense Review; and continue to rapidly advance missile defense technologies to improve the capability and reliability of the ground-based midcourse defense element of the ballistic missile defense system.
Not later than December 31, 2021, the Secretary of Defense shall— execute any requisite construction to ensure that Missile Field 1 or Missile Field 2 at Fort Greely or alternative missile fields at Fort Greely which may be identified pursuant to subsection (b), are capable of supporting and sustaining additional ground-based interceptors; deploy up to 14 additional ground-based interceptors to Missile Field 1 or up to 20 additional ground-based interceptors to an alternative missile field at Fort Greely as soon as technically feasible; and identify a ground-based interceptor stockpile storage site for the remaining ground-based interceptors required by subsection (b).
Unless otherwise directed or recommended by the Ballistic Missile Defense Review (BMDR), the Director of the Missile Defense Agency shall submit to the congressional defense committees, not later than 90 days after the completion of the Ballistic Missile Defense Review, a report on options to increase the capability, capacity, and reliability of the ground-based midcourse defense element of the ballistic missile defense system and the infrastructure requirements for increasing the number of ground-based interceptors in currently feasible locations across the United States.
The report required by paragraph
(1)shall include the following: An identification of potential sites in the United States, whether existing or new on the East Coast or in the Midwest, for the deployment of 104 ground-based interceptors. A cost-benefit analysis of each such site, including tactical, operational, and cost-to-construct considerations. A description of any completed and outstanding environmental assessments or impact statements for each such site. A description of the existing capacity of the missile fields at Fort Greely and the infrastructure requirements needed to increase the number of ground-based interceptors to 20 ground-based interceptors each. A description of the additional infrastructure and components needed to further outfit missile fields at Fort Greely before emplacing additional ground-based interceptors configured with the redesigned kill vehicle, including with respect to ground excavation, silos, utilities, and support equipment. A cost estimate of such infrastructure and components. An estimated schedule for completing such construction as may be required for such infrastructure and components. An identification of any environmental assessments or impact studies that would need to be conducted to expand such missile fields at Fort Greely beyond current capacity. An operational evaluation and cost analysis of the deployment of transportable ground-based interceptors, including an identification of potential sites, including in the eastern United States and at Vandenberg Air Force Base, and an examination of any environmental, legal, or tactical challenges associated with such deployments, including to any sites identified in subparagraph (A). A determination of the appropriate fleet mix of ground-based interceptor kill vehicles and boosters to maximize overall system effectiveness and increase its capacity and capability, including the costs and benefits of continued inclusion of capability enhancement II (CE–II) Block 1 interceptors after the fielding of the redesigned kill vehicle. A description of the planned improvements to homeland ballistic missile defense sensor and discrimination capabilities and an assessment of the expected operational benefits of such improvements to homeland ballistic missile defense. The benefit of supplementing ground-based midcourse defense elements with other, more distributed, elements, including both Aegis ships and Aegis Ashore installations with Standard Missile-3 Block IIA and other interceptors in Hawaii and at other locations for homeland missile defense. The report submitted under paragraph
(1)shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.