Congress adds $1.3B to Missile Defense Agency's budget in spending bill

Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Congress has added $1.3 billion into the Missile Defense Agency's fiscal 2021 budget, in excess of what the agency asked for in February.

The agency had requested $9.13 billion, a $1.27 billion decrease from last year's budget, but also submitted a list of unfunded requirements that totaled nearly $1 billion.

In the bill, lawmakers describe a "concerning" disconnect between the MDA's budget and the 2017 National Security Strategy, the 2018 National Defense Strategy and the 2019 Missile Defense Review.

"In particular, ongoing acquisition programs that were identified as high priority within MDA's architecture as recently as one year ago, such as the development of a space sensor for the tracking of hypersonic weapons and the procurement of a radar for the defense of Hawaii, have been removed from MDA's budget or underwent significant funding reductions," the bill said.

MDA's February budget request said the agency would return its focus to developing and deploying a homeland ballistic missile system to underlay the Ground-Based Midscourse Defense System .

It is also funding a Next-Generation Interceptor instead of the canceled the Redesigned Kill Vehicle program, and had discarded plans to build a set of ballistic missile defense radars in the Pacific.

The bill adds $133 million to fund the Hawaiian missile radar, and also injects $200 million in additional funding for improved homeland missile defense interceptors.

But the bill cuts $102 million from the MDA's $412.6 million request for a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense underlay, and also cuts $26.7 million from the Aegis ballistic missile defense funding line of $814.9.

Once the spending bill is signed, the MDA will have 30 days to provide Congress with an updated acquisition and funding plan for fiscal year 2021.