Deficiencies In Missile Defense System Put US Homeland At Risk, Audit Says

Concerns about failures to properly improve the accuracy and effectiveness of the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) ground-based missile interceptors have been raised in a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit report at a time when nations across the globe — including China, Russia and North Korea — are developing ballistic missile capabilities.

The GAO audit details three separate flight tests of the GMD’s Capability Enhancement I (CE-I) interceptor and the upgraded version called the Capability Enhancement II (CE-II) in which both interceptor designs had issues with their guidance systems.

The CE-I and CE-II are ground-based exoatmospheric kill vehicles are engineered to intercept incoming ballistic missiles outside of the Earth’s atmosphere.