The Congressional Budget Office has released a new report on boost phase missile defense.
Some notable revelations:
1. About $ 700 M of the 7.6 M for BMDS Interceptors program over the next five years will be for space-based interceptors (SBI). James Hackett, a right wing hack who takes pot shots at KEI program manager Terry Little’s pride at being a liberal Democrat, claimed that a “budget spreadsheet by the Missile Defense Agency” shows “$843 million, with only $11 million for 2005.” Hackett’s source may or may not have been including NFIRE funding, though that would really surprise me.
2. Not that the CBO report is a valentine to boost-phase intercept, but the assumptions appear more optimistic than those of the American Physical Society. I am eager to see if David Mosher at Rand publishes a response.