▶ 0:00:00and distinguished members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me to testify on the Department of Defense's missile defense and defeat posture. I am grateful to appear alongside my distinguished colleagues. Missile defenses are a vital element of our strategic force posture, both as a means of deterrence as well as defending the US homeland and our security interests abroad. As we see nearly every day in conflicts worldwide, offensive missile capabilities are becoming a central feature of modern warfare.
▶ 0:00:28China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran now deploy advanced missile systems to coersse and intimidate opponents, inflict tactical damage, or to carry out strategic campaigns. Our adversaries are investing in the next generation of offensive capabilities to hold the United States homeland at risk, coerc allies and partners, and threaten our deployed forces.
▶ 0:00:50China, Russia, and North Korea are fielding more advanced missiles with greater ranges and in larger numbers to provide the means for strategic level attack against the homeland, including nuclear and conventional options. These adversaries are rapidly modernizing, expanding, and diversifying their missile forces, incorporating technological advances into warheads, delivery systems of all types, and supporting command and control systems.
▶ 0:01:16Iran, meanwhile, has the capability to strike targets throughout the Middle East and continues to arm its proxies in the region. The president's Golden Dome for America executive order underscores this point. The threat of attack by ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles and other advanced aerial attacks remain the most catastrophic threat facing the United States. To counter these growing threats, we need next generation missile defense and missile defeat architectures that can complement our existing nuclear and conventional offensive capabilities.
▶ 0:01:46The president has directed that the United States will develop and field a next generation missile defense shield to provide for the common defense of our citizens and the nation and deter, defend against, and defeat any foreign aerial attack on the homeland. We will also guarantee our secure second strike capability.
▶ 0:02:03Golden Dome is a top priority for the nation and will include the development of cutting edge domain awareness systems, kinetic and non-kinetic missile defeat capabilities, and advanced command control and battle management systems to integrate and augment existing US missile defense capabilities. The Department of Defense remains committed to making the necessary investments in our posture to deter our adversaries and if deterrence fails to prevail in conflict.
▶ 0:02:28The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy is working together across the Department, including with my colleagues here today to make good on these investments to defend our homeland and our forces. Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you, General Gail. You're Good afternoon, Chairman Desire, Ranking Member Molton, and distinguished members of the subcommittee. Thank you for holding this important hearing.
▶ 0:02:54Both North American Aerospace Defense Command and the United States Northern Command have critical roles in defending North America from missile attack. And we appreciate the subcommittee's continued support of our efforts. I'd also like to recognize the tremendous work being done by Lieutenant General Collins, Lieutenant General Gayy, and ASD Yaffy. As the supported commands for homeland missile defense, NORD and Northcom are fortunate to have such strong and committed partners in our shared no fail mission.
▶ 0:03:22Defending North America from missile threats is increasingly challenging as global competitors rapidly develop and field advanced missile capabilities and delivery platforms aided by increasing cooperation and technology sharing between the competitors. To counter such adversary cooperation, NORAD and Northcom rely on realistic planning, targeted investments, timely deliveries, and forward-looking policies that ensure the command's ability to detect, track, and defeat potential threats in all domains.
▶ 0:03:53Establishing a layered domain awareness network to detect and track threats approaching North America from seabed to space remains our top priority because you can't defeat what you can't see. That network is central to the current and future Norer Northcom requirements which certainly include Golden Dome for America construct. Along with improved domain awareness, we must also improve our capability and capacity to defeat missile threats.
▶ 0:04:19On-time delivery of the next generation interceptor is necessary to counter North Korea's growing ICBM fleet and innovation and investment in advanced defeat mechanisms which could include directed energy left of launch and boost phase intercept are needed to defeat cruise missiles, hypersonics and other advanced threats. There are significant challenges ahead of us, but NORAD and Northcom's capability and resolve to deter aggression and defeat threats to our nation remains unshakable.
▶ 0:04:47Thank you again to the subcommittee and my fellow witnesses for your continued support. I look forward to your questions. We have the watch. Thank you, sir. Uh General thank you. Good afternoon, Chairman Dejar Lelay, Ranking Member Molton, distinguished members of the subcommittee. Thank you for this opportunity to talk about missile defense. Uh your and thank you for your continued support of missile defense and the broader missile defense enterprise.
▶ 0:05:12Missile Defense Agency is moving quickly to provide effective defenses against a dangerous missile threat to defend the US homeland, our deployed forces, and our allies and friends. The agency is transforming itself, its enterprise, and its industry base in order to develop and deliver capabilities to the war fighter at speed and scale. As we move with urgency to deliver the next generation missile defense system, we intend to leverage the performance efficiencies found in an integrated layered missile defense.
▶ 0:05:40We also will continue to exploit the space domain to support a missile defense posture that is more effective, resilient, and adaptable to known and anticipated threats. MDA is laser focused on improving our US homeland defenses. We are enhancing the performance and capability of the fielded groundbased midcourse defense system along with developing and testing of the new nextG interceptor.
▶ 0:06:06In support of regional defense, we are working with the Navy to improve Eegis ballistic missile defense capability and enhance hypersonic defenses and with the Army to make investments in the future development of the terminal high altitude area defense system THAAD. In support of the nation's missile defense enterprise, Golden Dome for America and reestablishing deterrence, MDA remains focused on delivering advanced, reliable, and resilient capabilities on accelerated timelines to meet the war fighters need.
▶ 0:06:34I greatly appreciate your continued support of MDA and the missile defense mission and I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you. Thank you uh Gayy. Thank you uh Chairman Deja, Ranking Member Molton and distinguished members of the subcommittee. I am honored to testify before you as the commander of US Army Space and Missile Defense Command and Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense.
▶ 0:06:59In these roles, I am representing an incredible organization of 2,300 soldiers and civilians spanning 13 time zones in 19 locations worldwide. The one team of professionals along with this army and joint air and missile defense forces provide credible combat capability. So, so important to our peace through strength deterrence approach and support to three combat commanders.
▶ 0:07:24I also serve as the senior commander for Fort Gley, Alaska and senior responsible officer for US Army quadrillin toll. Two strategic locations, remote sites that are experiencing challenges with facilities and we must continue to address with priority. Additionally, I also serve as our army's lead enterprise integrator for air and missile defense.
▶ 0:07:45As the Army Air and Missile Defense Enterprise Integrator, just as I did last year, I want to highlight the strain on our AMD force. High deployment uptempo and frequent deployment extensions not only create challenging conditions for our soldiers and their families, but place the Army's modernization plans at risk as continual extensions jeopardize critical upgrades.
▶ 0:08:10The deployment to time at home ratio for Army air missile defense units is nearly one to one, well below the DoD goal. Air defense artillery is the most deployed force in the army. In response, the Army leadership has increased MOS recruiting flexibility through 14 uniform MOS pilot program and added critical skill bonuses, increased training opportunities, and built-in station of choice incentives essentially improving assessions.
▶ 0:08:39Further addressing uptempo challenge, the army integrated air and missile defense is undergoing the most significant modernization in history. Fielding the integrated battle command system. This will fundamentally change the way sensors and shooters are integrated across the battlefield, increasing capacity and depth to achieve outsize effect. And finally, the Army ADA force structure will increase by 39% by FY 2030.
▶ 0:09:09You have already heard much about the dynamic evolving threat. It's clear we are now entering a new air and missile age. With these threats in mind, SMDC has advanced an air and missile defense strategy for tomorrow while continuing to develop outsiz value today. Our SMDC center of excellence supports the training lethality of the schoolhouse for our space and missile defense soldiers.
▶ 0:09:33Our technical center is advancing cutting edge technologies and directed energy space high altitude and hypersonic testing enabling domain dominance and non-kinetic alternatives within a comprehensive missile defeat framework. It also manages the Ronald Reagan ballistic missile defense test site which is critical for testing and domain awareness ideal in location and unmatched in precision instrumentation.
▶ 0:10:01GIF IMD conducts trans regional missile defense planning and operational support capability assessment and joint education training all aligned under US space command. I'll focus my final point on holistic air and missile defense approach. Simply put, SMDC is already engaged. We man, train, and equip the soldiers providing protection against ICBMs right now. And we are actively managing network architecture for the air defense in place over the National Capital Region.
▶ 0:10:32However, we must continue to leverage technology to transform our missile defense capabilities to address the current and future threat. And SMDC has the expertise and experience to add even more value in the future. We must also invest in left of launch capabilities in a holistic missile defeat approach. In conclusion, I've seen firsthand how every member of our one team at SMDC contributes the security of our homeland. Every day brings a new challenge and opportunity.
▶ 0:11:02From our missile defense battery in US SCCOM to our fire direction center in Alaska, our team is globally lethal, always ready, and I look forward to addressing your questions. Thank you. Thank you all for your very sobering and important opening statements. We'll now turn to member questioning. We'll recognize each member for up to five minutes. And and I'll start by recognizing myself. Um well, I understand that the final architecture for Golden Dome remains under review.
▶ 0:11:32It would be helpful to hear from each of you how your organizations have contributed to the plans so far. And General Guio, uh let's begin with you, Chairman. Thank you. uh as you mentioned uh we still don't know the final uh configuration uh but NORAD and Northcom uh as separate commands provided input to both OSD and joint staff in terms as uh the supported command what capabilities we would need uh from a a golden dome approach and uh what we
▶ 0:12:02provided sir were three separate layers. First is a domain awareness layer that detects all threats from seabed to space uh to include the air and and terrestrial layers in between uh that are uh integrated to feed two defeat layers.
▶ 0:12:19The first being an ICBM uh defeat layer which largely exists today uh with the GBIS that can defeat a North Korean threat and then an air layer that would uh defeat cruise missiles and uh air threats. The challenge I think is the hypersonics which at different parts of their flight profile could be in the ICBM phase or the airphase.
▶ 0:12:44And so um making sure that that the uh detect and track capability was flexible enough to handle hypersonics then of course the defeat mechanisms as well. Okay. Uh General Thank you Mr. Chairman.
▶ 0:12:59So the missile defense agency as as you can imagine uh we have been working on a national uh missile defense architecture for 42 years and so we uh certainly have been a big part of playing and and as the IMD tech authority as well we were a key part of the team supporting uh uh what it takes to put together an integrated missile defense system and both what we have been doing uh the analysis that we've conducted over many decades uh and we're at the core of helping support and form the department in putting together an architecture
▶ 0:13:30that's comprehensive that covers all pieces and parts and could be executable. Uh General Gayy the army current I as the uh commander of space and missile defense command has not personally been involved uh with the architecture build. Uh I am more of the operational side when it comes to implementation. Uh however, our team continues uh to man the GBIS and are prepared to support Northcom in any capacity moving forward.
▶ 0:14:00Thank you, sir. Thank you. And Miss Yappy, thank you. Given the whole of department nature of this problem set and the the expansive vision, the office of the secretary of defense for policy joined with joint staff early in the days of receiving the executive order to try to convene the core elements of the department, the experts, the stakeholders to help uh frame it in terms of what the department would need to do, lay out the requirements, make sure that we understood the guidance from the White House, um and start building out different options.
▶ 0:14:28We certainly turned it to the technical folks to dig in and build the architecture from there. But this is an all-encompassing problem and the office of the secretary of defense for policy has helped um helped in the early days to coordinate it and once we have a decision on the architecture the intention is to go to phase two and to lead and conduct a theater missile defense review um as that will be important as well as just broader considerations of strategic requirements. Thank you. Thank you. Uh General Guio uh can you talk about how the threats were considered in this process?
▶ 0:14:57uh this isn't just building uh capability for the sake of capability. This is based on evolving threats to the homeland. And I think it's interesting we talked about what it was 6 years ago, what it is today, and what you expect it to be. And from your opening statements, you know, obviously there's great concern. So can you just talk about how how you went about this? Chairman, we did use the threat as the as the basis for our uh requirements that we put forward.
▶ 0:15:24Uh certainly uh starting with the ICBM threat that we see from North Korea and that we could potentially see from Iran should they decide to take their space launch vehicle and turn that into an ICBM. Uh then the hypersonic threat which as I mentioned a moment ago kind of goes through both the ICBM portion depending on how it's launched all the way through a terminal phase uh challenge for us and then the air threat which uh certainly over the last six years as you mentioned has increased as we look at both Russia
▶ 0:15:54and China and their doctrine which says they will use cruise missiles to to hit various uh points of critical infrastructure for us and making sure that th those were all tied together with a sensing grid that could feed uh detect and track and feed the defeat mechanisms and then ensure that we had the right uh command and control system uh where we could seamlessly go from one of the layers to another uh excuse me uh with one operator to make sure we're defeating those threats. Okay.
▶ 0:16:25Uh my time has expired and I recognize the ranking member Mr. Molton for five minutes. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Uh, General Collins, given what we have heard from industry, is it accurate that space-based interceptors would be deployed in low Earth orbit? Sir, we have not finalized what the space-based uh interceptor architecture would be. We we are going to open it up to industry. I fully expect that part of that would be in the LEO environment. Yes, sir. Okay. It's hard to imagine where else they would be. General Guo, would you agree with that assessment?
▶ 0:16:57Yes, sir, I would. Okay. Miss Yaffy, have Russia and or China publicly or privately expressed concerns with US missile defense systems posing uh strategic stability concerns with regards to second strike capabilities? Sir, I think the Russians are on the record for many years expressing concerns about missile defense at the same time as they build their own capabilities. Yeah, the Russ the Chinese have as well.
▶ 0:17:21So given General Collins response regarding a space-based intercept architecture being placed in LEO as General Guio affirmed, would it be susceptible to effects of a nuclear de detonation in that orbit? Sir, were there to be a nuclear detonation in LEO then perhaps it would be obviously the all the folks involved in the architecture discussions are tracking the threats. Yeah.
▶ 0:17:45So, with what we know about Russia's efforts to develop and deploy a nuclear weapon in space and their fear of US missile defenses, has there been an assessment done on the likelihood or increased chance that Russia would employ such a weapon in conflict early on to take out our space-based intercept layer? Sir, it sounds like an intelligence assessment, and I would defer that to the intelligence community. No, no, no. It's an operational question.
▶ 0:18:13you're gonna spend billions of dollars of taxpayer money building things that could inspire the Russians to say, "Oh, we need to take them out before they get used." You better figure that out if you're going to spend a lot of taxpayer money on this. Sir, I understand the question. I think we have seen that Russia is pursuing and pursuing these capabilities in any case given the threats that they see broadly.
▶ 0:18:34However, they also continue to counter these threats with their own missiles, which is Well, I tell you what, you better figure out if you're going to build this whole thing at the cost of tens of billions of tax dollars of taxpayer money and then the Russians just plan to take it out with their space-based nuke. That's not going to work too well for anybody because of course it's going to take out all the rest of our satellites as well. But, you also used a word today that I've not heard before when describing Golden Dome, aerial.
▶ 0:19:00Is it indeed the president's vision to only defend against aerial threats like the Iron Dome system uh where he got this idea? So in other words, all China needs to do is develop the kinds of sea-based delivery systems Russia started developing after we pulled out of the ABM treaty just to get around Golden No sir, the executive order calls for the defense of the United States against ballistic hypersonic advanced cruise missiles and other next generation aerial attacks. The earlier part of the aerial attacks, correct? Other next So not so not sea-based.
▶ 0:19:30I mean, a sea-based ballistic missile would be part of this. As as we all know, there's other ways you can you can run a boat up into Los Angeles Harbor, right? It's clear that Golden Dome is not designed to defend against that. Is that your understanding as well, General Guio? Since aerial is in the executive order? Yes, it is. Okay. Seems like another big hole we should investigate before we spend a lot of money on this.
▶ 0:19:56Uh, General Guil, given your responsibilities as the commander of Northern Command, do you believe that the strategic landscape has significantly changed in the past six years such that the Trump the second Trump administration would dramatically change its strategic defense policy from the first Trump administration? Congressman, I I do think that the uh the landscape has changed significantly with the uh number of countries that are either u possessing or pursuing ICBMs, the hypersonics.
▶ 0:20:26Are you talking about China? Because we knew six years ago that China was doing this. No, I'm talking uh about uh Iran's pursuit and Pakistan pursuit. Okay. Well, Iran and Pakistan have been pursuing those things for a long time. Well, yes, sir. But they're certainly more advanced now than they were 6 years ago. Well, apparently we're going to get rid of Iran's uh nuclear capabilities with a deal. So, I guess they're going to be off the table. Of course, we've had deal ways of dealing with Pakistan for a while.
▶ 0:20:56Um, General Gay, what's our pacing threat right now according to the National Defense Strategy? The North Korean threat. Actually, it's the Chinese threat. Um, so given that we are uh conducting a shift to the Pac Pacific, how does moving THAADS and Patriot batteries out of the Pacific into the Middle East help support our national defense strategy?
▶ 0:21:22the uh any movement of any of our Patriot or THAAD systems are take under careful uh consideration and we also have additional assets at home station prepared to deploy and fill those voids uh if necessary but every deployment is carefully considered as part of our gift map. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chair now recogni recognize the gentleman from Nebraska, Mr. Bacon for five minutes. Thank you all four of you for being here.
▶ 0:21:51I I was fortunate to do missile defense in Israel in 2009 and 10. We worked with the aeromissile team, put in a radar satellite sport and I would never thought that we could shoot down 99% of 110 ballistic missiles and then later 180 ballistic missiles at a 99% PK. So, thank God for missile defenses. Israel has seen the impact of a system that works. And granted, we got a different problem set.
▶ 0:22:20are a lot bigger, but I think our country will be well served to have a strong missile defense as well. My first question is to General Guio. I'm a little worried about some of the cuts in our National Guard. Your predecessor talked about had some concerns too about having enough aircraft to do the alerts. How how does the air portion of this mission fit in with Golden Dome? I mean, is it you would think it' be more radars and interceptors, but I think aircraft play a role, too.
▶ 0:22:50Congressman, uh I think you're exactly right. uh as we envision the the entire network, it would include uh space-based AMTI, airborne moving target indicator, which would detect and track uh aircraft and cruise missiles, a land-based uh capabilities such as over the horizon radar, and certainly fighter aircraft with uh capable interceptors uh missiles to uh defeat cruise missiles, which uh in addition to the ranking members question on that I answered on ICBMs,
▶ 0:23:20I think cruise missiles is probably the biggest advancement that we've seen over the past uh six years and that needs to be a part of this uh integrated system. Do you get a a voice when the services are looking at reductions because your predecessor had expressed concern on the reductions with the Air National Guard and they're the ones who are providing the alert capabilities. Do you feel well enough coordinated with or and is your comfort zone good right now with what we have?
▶ 0:23:50Uh yes sir to both. I I do get a voice and and I am very comfortable with the n air national guard's presentation for our alert force. Okay. Thank you, General Collins. Uh yesterday we voted on 150 billion dollar plus up uh to our defense spending. We want to get us to about 4% GDP uh spending which is the norm. Right now we're 2.9%. It's an adequate for all the systems we want to field plus taking care of our troops. So I'm excited about what we're going to be able to do this next year to rightsize our defense spending.
▶ 0:24:19I think we're going to be spending $5.6 billion on missile defense with this the money that aortioned. Are you what do you think is the first steps for you and what do you need to feel for like space interceptors and things like that? What what's your first priority with this influx of money? Thank you. Thank you for that, Congressman.
▶ 0:24:44Uh we certainly uh do uh see the opportunity of a reconciliation to begin quickly and uh and bring uh much needed resources into the missile defense enterprise. Uh it really is probably not just one thing. I think there's there's really I think two lanes to look at when we look at the missile defense enterprise. And uh and number one is making sure we have the the capability capacity with the kit we have today to improve the defense posture today or as quickly as we can. We can make a difference today with systems that we have.
▶ 0:25:12Uh and then the second piece would be really looking at the disruptive technology piece and pushing on that development piece and getting into an agile uh prototyping construct as quickly as possible whether that be uh directed energy non-kinetics or space-based interceptors. And I think we'd look to do a uh a very heavy cyclical prototyping phase to get after that and mature that capability as quickly as possible.
▶ 0:25:37It would seem to me you would have to have a really good sensor system first before you can intercept. And I know something we've talked about before. Uh obviously ballistic missiles from the se from the sea, from the continent, but the hypersonics are very hard to track. And so I I would see a real need there to really work on the sensor uh problem first. Yes, sir. Uh much of the kit that we have today, we we certainly have proven sensored architectures to track ballistic missiles today.
▶ 0:26:06groundbased uh and we are uh one year into our uh prototyping experiment with the HBTSS, the hypersonic ballistic tracking space sensor uh which has been going very well and showing very positive performance against a hypersonic threat. And so as part of that we would look to then expand that. Um the space force and the space development agency already had a plan to integrate HBTSS into the proliferated war fighting space architecture.
▶ 0:26:36Uh we would look with additional resources to accelerate that as much as possible to bring that capability to bear. Thank you so much. And even if we have a differing of opinions on the actual missile defense, it seems like the sensor stuff is something we could all agree to and we need. With that, I yield. Gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Whitesides. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, thanks for your service and for being here today.
▶ 0:27:01Um, General uh Gayy, I was uh struck by your comments about um the the challenges on the the deployed folks and uh I recently got back from the Middle East from a trip uh we went to Iraq and various Gulf nations and met with troops um who are working on some of these missile defense things over there. They're doing heroic work. what what could Congress do to help this challenge for these deployed folks?
▶ 0:27:30You you referred to one program in your testimony, but I just want to give you the chance to elaborate a little bit further on this issue. Yes, sir. Uh thanks for asking that question. Uh the Air Missile Defense Force is a very resilient force and we've asked a lot of our force and they continue to respond as you saw uh in the Middle East. Where Congress can support is continue to support the funding of our AM missile defense modernization.
▶ 0:27:56Our modernization is going to allow us to not completely rely on our Patriot system as the system of choice but also uh field out our integrated battle command system which will integrate our counter cruise missile capability into our uh common C2 construct. And so therefore, the uh Patriot system is not the only system that we'll have to rely on for the range of threats and will give us the portfolio to have the appropriate shooter for the appropriate threat set. Okay.
▶ 0:28:26Thanks. Um, so actually building on that, you know, one of the things that we heard throughout the Middle East uh was that everybody is just um uh super eager to get more of our missile defense uh equipment, you know, and they are frustrated honestly by how long it takes for our American industrial base to produce that stuff. This is a question for maybe General Collins or I don't know, you may General Guio, you may have comments as well. Um what's going on? How could we improve that?
▶ 0:28:54you know, we're talking about folks taking 10 years to get systems that they've, you know, ordered, you know, five to 10 years. Um, what what's the underlying challenges? How could Congress help? Um, what does American industry need to do to do better in in that production side? Thank you, Congressman, for that question. Um, it is certainly a challenge that we continue to face with especially new developments, uh, developments of capability that starts from scratch that does not exist.
▶ 0:29:22uh and some of those do take uh a considerable amount of time. Uh there are certainly uh activities to focus on more mature technologies as you start the program. Uh to focus on more open systems and modular systems so that the solution the first solution may not be the perfect solution. It's it's capability to bring to bear and then evolve it uh and grow it uh over time. Uh what I would call more of an agile approach to to bringing capability uh to bear. I think that's really important.
▶ 0:29:51Uh I think some of the delays in like the interceptor uh production lines and the munitions production lines. Uh one I think there's uh uh improvements we could make to uh to stabilize the funding and the demand signal on the munition line. Uh I bought munitions for the Air Force. I buy munitions now. Uh and the yank up and yank back uh invest to expand lines then don't fund production on those lines.
▶ 0:30:16I think a stabilization of that could actually help us to increase uh the cadence and the availability of of the needed weapons that we that we require going forward. I think that's probably a a very key item where we could look at and and potentially even how we procure munitions. Uh we procure munitions with a lot of the same rule sets that we do as from larger weapon systems. uh there may be a more agile way to get after how we produce the buy the parts and set up the the production lines to support more agile uh weapons development and delivery.
▶ 0:30:47Thanks so much. Um Mie, uh last question. I got about a minute here. Um I'm the new guy here. So what I don't really get is, you know, we were doing missile defense before and now we have this Golden Dome thing. What were we not working on before that we now are working on? Or is Golden Dome sort of like a rebranding of what we had before under a new executive order? Like is there some requirement that we didn't do before that we now have? And we have about 45 seconds.
▶ 0:31:16Sir, thank you for the question. The the basic answer is that until now missile defense has been focused on rogue state ICBM threats. So truly North Korea, the direction in the Golden Dome executive order is to focus on on the whole range of missile threats, the ballistic hypersonic cruise missile advanced aerial threats from all nations. And that's the significant shift in both policy and direction.
▶ 0:31:37So, but we were we were doing that before, but you're talking about like maybe numbers like we're now going to be able to intercept hundreds or thousands of of things that are heading towards us or something. Sir, I can't comment on what the architecture will be and what it will be, the kinds of numbers it will be set up against, but ultimately the um homeland missile defense was focused on leveraging the GBI interceptors for the North Korea threat, which was of course much smaller in number. Thanks. Yield Gentleman yields back. The chair now recognized the gentleman from Indiana, Mr.
▶ 0:32:08Mesmer, for five minutes. Thank you, Chairman. Uh, General Collins, thank you for our conversation earlier today. Your predecessor testified that the glide glidephase interceptor program schedule, which anticipated in 2032 roughly, and his words, didn't didn't meet the threat, is MDA developing options to accelerate the program. Congressman, thank you and thank you for your time this morning. Uh hypersonic missile defense is is a key area that does need additional focus.
▶ 0:32:35Um the the glidephase interceptor program uh was due to priorities and and resourcing decisions last year. Uh uh we were driven to to make an earlier selection and a down select years earlier than than planned. Uh that effect that has actually delayed the program and the funding uh line and profile that we have in the budget that you all received last year uh will actually push that delivery to 2035. uh we are pursuing and and evaluating uh acceleration options.
▶ 0:33:04Um it is primarily a resourcing uh at this point. There are some technology things that need to happen uh in the next 3 to 5 years. Uh but then there is a resourcing and alignment issue that could accelerate that. We believe we could recover to uh with uh no increased level of programmatic risk across the program, but that's about the fastest we could to do today. Uh we are looking and exploring other alternatives and options to potentially bring residual capability or partial capability from other weapon systems we have.
▶ 0:33:35Uh but as it stands today, the only hypersonic maneuvering target defense capability we have is in the fleet with the SM6 and the C-based terminal capability. Okay. Thank you. Um what's the status of the next generation interceptors? Yes sir. the the NextG interceptor uh as brief last year as well uh due to a funding decision and priorities uh we did down select to a single contractor last year um a year and a half uh earlier than expected.
▶ 0:34:04Uh so that program still continues on and is our largest and and highest priority program for homeland defense. Uh we have made significant progress at the system level. uh the NGI is the booster uh the interceptor uh but the broader weapon system is also now fully aligned and synchronized with uh with the NGI program which is a major feat for the pro for the uh for the enterprise.
▶ 0:34:26Uh last year I briefed that our number one risk uh issue and risk going forward with either of the vendors at that time uh was the solid rocket motor uh effort and development. This is a new booster, a new development and we have experienced delays and issues with that development and are expecting um 18-month or more delay into the delivery of that initial capability.
▶ 0:34:48Uh we've taken actions to shore up that that development as well as bring in an additional source uh to help uh buy down the schedule risk of the development as we move forward. uh it still is the foundation for the future of ballistic ICBM uh protection of the homeland and we are 100% committed and and focused on that program. Okay. Thank you.
▶ 0:35:10Um what do you see in the space-based interceptor's role in a later layered defense to ballistic and hypersonic Thanks Congressman. We're certainly uh uh taking a closer look. The executive order has take it uh has has opened that up to for us to take a closer look and and move forward on developing that. uh we will work through the technology piece uh to better understand and move that as quickly as possible.
▶ 0:35:33Uh if anything that we've learned over the last uh year, two years in Israel uh eastern Med uh and Ukraine is that a layered missile defense uh approach and design is paramount to the large raid sizes that we expect that we've seen last year and that we would expect in the future. uh and adding another layer, a space-based intercept layer to that uh certainly looks to increase the performance of the overall architecture. Thank you.
▶ 0:36:01As a follow-up to that with General Guo, um you've previously stated support for layered missile defense approach with the space component. U could you go to more detail on how that would fit in in the North Comm's perspective from a defense standpoint? Congressman, having a layered approach to from the NORAD and Northcom perspective is essential uh to make sure that we can uh identify, track and and guide on on all threats. Okay. Thank you.
▶ 0:36:29Uh General Collins, you as you know, Iron Beam is an Israeli developed directed energy uh defense system designed to defend against short-range rockets, drones, artillery, and mortar bombs. Can you discuss where things stand with our iron beam procurement and any any funds set aside for this? Yes, Congressman. On the US side, there are no funds at this point set aside for Iron Beam as part of the Israeli supplemental from last year.
▶ 0:36:56uh there is a a portion of that that we are working with our uh Israeli missile defense organization uh partners uh to execute uh and bring that money to them to to continue um uh the development and fielding of iron beam. Uh one thing that we have negotiated in that agreement though uh was 50% of that uh investment is a payback into the US economy. So while it goes to Israel they have to have half of their half of the contracts half of the money comes back into building our industry base.
▶ 0:37:24And so, uh, that supplemental actually will serve to increase the the industry base skill set and capability, uh, for that that we'll pay back into our directed energy efforts as we move forward. Okay. Thank you. Yield back my time. Gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Carbajal. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to all the witnesses being here today.
▶ 0:37:49We hear a lot about uh Golden Dome, but there doesn't really seem to be a whole lot of clarity on what the point is. You know, it reminds me of that commercial, that Wendy's commercial, where's the beef? And so, it seems that, you know, a concept has been thought of, which has been thought of before in the past, and it seems that we're going about it in a way backwards way to fill this system eventually. General Guio Collins and Gainley.
▶ 0:38:19How is the concept of Golden Dome different than our current missile defense architecture? And did any plans exist to develop space-based capabilities for both missile tracking and missile interception prior to January 2025?
▶ 0:38:37Congressman, I think the big uh difference that you'll see is Golden Dome takes all of the existing requirements that we had but but uh for the first time integrates multiple layers into one system that allows us to detect, track and defeat multiple types of threats uh that uh affect us in different domains with one system. So while a lot of the components and the requirements were there in the past, this is the first time that it's all tied together in in one system.
▶ 0:39:05And uh yes, there were certainly space-based uh ability to detect and track uh prior to this. Congressman, uh to to build on General Guo's response, um the architecture plan that Missile Defense Agency had before January of 2025 included uh a space layer for hypersonics and ballistic missile uh tracking and discrimination as we move forward.
▶ 0:39:32uh and most of the other components and pieces parts of what the the the uh executive order included uh were part of the architecture plan uh that we were going to get after. Um I think maybe the biggest impact of this activity is it will accelerate many of those options uh quicker resources. Uh the schedule is pretty long to get to some of these activities. The spacebased interceptor piece was not in the architecture plan as we were before January 25. Great.
▶ 0:40:02And congressman, the only uh point I will add uh that wasn't covered by General Guil and General Collins is the executive order also called out uh left of launch missile defeat. I think that's an important aspect of missile defense that has been neglected uh to date and uh focusing capabilities and efforts towards the trading of a missile force prior to launch is an important aspect of the holistic missile defeat program. Thank you. Thank you.
▶ 0:40:29General Collins, can you give us an update on the hypersonic and ballistic space sensor HBTSS program and what we have learned from the prototype demonstrations? What is the current plan to develop an operational constellation beyond the prototype stage? And how do adversaries growing counterpace capabilities influence MDA's view of the appropriate mix of space-based and groundbased sensors and missile defense?
▶ 0:41:00Thank you, Congressman. Uh, so first off, uh, HBTSS, it was launched in February, uh, last year on Valentine's Day. Uh, we quickly had our first hypersonic test bed, um, uh, test, uh, in June and and then we had one later in the year. Uh, and both of those were very successful.
▶ 0:41:18The the three main objectives of the HPTSS prototyping were to show that we could have the appropriate sensitivity in orbit uh to see a a hypersonic vehicle throughout its entire flight to be able to uh have the quality of service the accuracy of a track to be able to uh close a fire control loop and for that data to come down and enter the the command and control system fast enough.
▶ 0:41:42So latency and we have had two hypersonic test bed uh flights as well uh coincident with another flight uh flight test that we did just a month and a half ago uh taking a look at SM6. We also had HBTSS in view and it tracked the uh that new hypersonic target that was used in that test very well and so we have proved out the capability to get after the accuracy, get after uh the latency.
▶ 0:42:12uh we are tweaking the algorithms to improve our quality of service but we see it as a very successful demonstration of that capability. We have been partnered with the space development agency all along. uh they have been tracking uh and and part of our HBTSS development and they have our requirements and plan to integrate that capability that level of requirement and tech into the proliferative war fighter space architecture and build that up over the uh coming tranches to give us eventually a global capability
▶ 0:42:42to track uh hypersonic weapons. Um your your last question sir was I'm out of time. If you could answer that for the record, that would be great. Afterwards, we'll do, Congressman. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, the chair now recognizes the distinguished gentleman from South Carolina, Mr. Wilson. And thank you very much, uh, Dr. Chairman Dejoule. Uh, and we appreciate all of your service and, uh, it's what an important time in history.
▶ 0:43:11What a great opportunity I believe we have in history, uh, to protect the American people. And we thank you all for being here today. And sad sadly to me we're in a conflict we didn't choose and that is dictators with rule of gun invading democracies with rule of law. It began February 24 2023 the invasion by war criminal Putin of Ukraine October 7. Uh the invasion I consider of Israel by Iran uh its puppets. Uh and so we've just got to be prepared.
▶ 0:43:42And we know that earlier this month that Russia launched over 70 missiles in the capital of Kev against civilian targets uh that had catastrophic effect on um 35 people killed on a bus uh over and over again u just uh war crimes that should never occur.
▶ 0:44:02And then tan has directly fired missiles uh itself directly from uh Iran and with its puppets against civilian targets in Israel. And then we have the Chinese Communist Party continuing to expand their arsenal of median and intermediate range ballistic missiles posing a significant threat to the United States and our allies across the Pacific.
▶ 0:44:26And it's my view that we must be prepared to strengthen our capabilities to to deter the adversaries so that we can establish peace through strength. and General Guinea, as we modernize to deter and defend ourselves against the adversaries with increasingly deadly capabilities, we are moving towards setting up a revolutionary new missile defense system, the Golden Dome, which has been so advocated and appreciated by President Donald Trump.
▶ 0:44:56With that in mind, Joel Gainy, as the service representative on the panel with the quote, organize, train, and equip responsibilities, are you pro providing input on the personnel and training requirements that would be associated with the options under the consideration for Golden Dome? Congressman, uh, thank you for that question. uh I have not been part of the architecture work uh to date.
▶ 0:45:22So therefore I have not had any input on the organizational uh training aspect of it. But what I can say is I have significant input into the army's uh organization modernization in way forward and any elements of the army that may be part of that architecture will have already been vetted and as the operational potential operational component for Northcom doing the groundbased midcourse defense system as we ingest additional
▶ 0:45:52uh technology into the architecture my team will be prepared to advise North communist assist is necessary. Well, we certainly have faith in you and your colleagues. With that in mind too, Joani, as the as War Colonel Putin's unprovoked invasion, uh, which is to actually reestablish the failed Soviet Union, uh, we see the axis of evil of the Chinese Communist Party, war criminal Putin, uh, DPRK, North Korea, and the regime and tan continue to
▶ 0:46:22build up their missile capabilities with a threat against the United States and our allies continuing to grow. And General, what is the Army's position on foreign military sales for the lower tier air and missile defense sensor? Does the army support partner nations purchasing the system as a standalone Again, Congressman, thanks for your question.
▶ 0:46:46Uh the LTM's uh radar is an exportable uh system currently and it's currently uh part of our uh foreign military sales uh system and in uh Poland has purchased uh the system already and yes it is available uh as a standalone option.
▶ 0:47:06However, we continue and encourage it to be purchased as part of the integrated battle command system because that uh promotes the interoperability between our allies in the US as we move forward. And that's exciting. It's so exciting to see Poland come to life and be free.
▶ 0:47:22uh and uh Secretary Yafi um I'm very concerned about the weaponization of space uh by war criminal Putin and the Chinese Communist Party and with the potentiality of overriding or evading the ground and uh sea-based missile defense systems. How can this be addressed of a uh potential weapon of the weaponization of space? Sir, thank you for the question. I think we're tracking China and Russia's developments in space very closely.
▶ 0:47:52They've both put up a number of capabilities of concern designed to hold our critical space-based assets at risk and that's that's part of the discussion. At the same time, we hope to leverage space to enable our sensors to be most effective in in the future Golden Dome system. Well, thank you again for your service. I yield back. The gentleman yields. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Van Orton. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to clear up a couple things here. This is the missile defense and missile defeat programmatic updates hearing.
▶ 0:48:22So, we're here to talk about these, right? I I took the liberty of having my crack graphics team draw up some of these. So, we we were here to talk about this stuff, right? So, we if this happens and we don't stop it, this is going to happen, right? Mushroom cloud. No more America. So, we're not here to to talk about these. Correct. Again, I'm a retired Navy Seal senior chief. you know how to take care of boats. All right, General Guil, just want to clear that up.
▶ 0:48:53Um, when was the Iron Dome first developed? Congressman, I'm not exactly sure, but it's been a couple of decades. Okay. Has it been improving? Would you say the the iron the Iron Dome, the Israeli system? Yes. Yes, it has been improving. Okay. Um, so it started they started without a missile defense system. Then they had an idea and then they started building on it and then they got to IOC and and now they're continuing to improve it.
▶ 0:49:22So could we logically say like we could extend our thoughts like a do a um a uh thought experiment here like an Einstein thought experiment. Could we say that we as the United States of America has been intimately involved in the development of the Iron Dome system? Could we say that maybe we could apply that here in the United States and that it will work? Sir, we have been involved with the development of the Iron Dome. I think uh General Collins could could attest to that.
▶ 0:49:51The uh Well, first I want to confirm your Yes, sir. So, we have been uh partnered with Israel missile defense for two decades and we actually were not part of the development of Iron Dome. Uh we helped co-produce that, but we have they're their upper tiers, David Sling and Arrow. We we have co-developed with them and so we've we've helped partner design their architecture and are intimately integrated our system and their system are integrated together to work. Okay.
▶ 0:50:18So we could say that there's a functioning a pretty darn general Bacon pointed out you know 99% of these things that's functioning in Israel right now. We have a larger industrial base than Israel. We have greater GDP than Israel and we have a larger population than Israel.
▶ 0:50:36So can we say that if we applied the same type of thought process, the the development of Iron Dome and we put it here in the United States and we called it like Golden Dome or something, could we reasonably assume that that will function at some point in the future to protect the United States of America against these threats? Yes, sir. Okay. Well, I'm glad we cleared that up.
▶ 0:50:58Now listen, I um I am not of the mind that we should um shaping our defense policy on whether or not it's going to provoke Russia. I think that is a straw man argument and I think that it is a politically derived argument that potentially puts the United States of America in jeopardy. So what we need to do is make sure that we robustly and I trust you guys to do this. How long you been doing this job, General Gil?
▶ 0:51:28I've been the commander since uh No, I mean like the Air Force. Oh, 36 years, sir. 36 years. General Collins, how long you been doing this? 32. General Gayy? 34. Ma'am, they've all been doing their job longer than you've been alive. Just How long have you been in this in a defense position like this? In this position for a few months, I've been in OSD for 15 years. Okay.
▶ 0:51:52So we got whatund and some years of whatever experience of like dealing with defense policy and anti-missile uh anti-missile machinery equipment policy deployment right okay that means that you guys are a table full of subject matter experts and because we sit behind this dis with a microphone doesn't make us experts in these types of fields and so I would just want to make sure that we are leaning heavily on the experts and understand that you've done this before
▶ 0:52:22we're using uh integrated anti-missile defense systems in Israel and that they can work. And this is the last thing before my time expires. I represent Vulfield and also Fort McCoy. I'm giving you an open invitation to when this Golden Dome gets done, I'd like a battery of whatever it's going to look like at Vogfield or Fort McCoy in the state of Wisconsin to help protect the upper Midwest. That is an open invitation. If you guys haven't been there, I want to invite you.
▶ 0:52:49I'll give you some cheese curds, but I want your soldiers and airmen and space force people or whatever their guardians at some point in my district to help protect the United States of America. So, thank you very much. And with that, I yield back. Gentlemen yields back. The chair now recognizes a gentleman from Colorado, uh, Mr. Crank. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to our witnesses. Um, you know, and it's interesting as I'm listening to this discussion.
▶ 0:53:14I had a a colleague came to me not long ago after I was talking about Golden Dome and my support for it. Um, and that colleague said to me essentially, you know, that's a pipe dream. It's just never going to work. And and I got to thinking about it because I have maybe a bit of a unique perspective. Um, I worked as a staff member on Capitol Hill 30 years ago.
▶ 0:53:41I look across these pictures and less Aspen was chairman, Ron Delums, uh, Mr. Spence. Um, and I remember Mr. Delums specifically was an outspoken opponent of ballistic missile defense. This was in the 1990s and we had arguments on the House floor about how this would never work. Missile defense would never work. Argued against uh the THAAD program. It'll never work, they said.
▶ 0:54:10And you know today as I was talking to that colleague I'd ask well maybe we should ask the Israelis if it would work. I mean is and I guess I would ask you this. We have these arguments about whether we if this is a technical problem or whether this is a problem of political will. And America does great things but every great thing we've ever done has been difficult. There were people at at the time who said we couldn't land a a man on the moon and we did it.
▶ 0:54:40But there were naysayers back then who said we can't do this. I would ask uh General Guio your thoughts. Is this a technical issue or is it a political will issue? Can we do this Uh yes, Congressman, there are certainly technical challenges with the uh integration of all these capabilities into one. Uh but it's certainly possible. Yeah, General Collins, your thoughts, sir. We've demonstrated over the last two years that this these systems can work, the the groundbased systems that we have today.
▶ 0:55:10Uh we have some understanding to do to to Jono's point, the technical integration to bring a space-based interceptor to work, the understanding of what a life cycle cost of maintaining a constellation and what that brings to the fight. All those things need to be worked through as we move forward. Uh but we certainly believe in layered missile defense and we've shown uh throughout um throughout the last two years that that those systems work and bring capability and they save lives. Yeah, General Gayy. Uh, thank you, Congressman. I agree.
▶ 0:55:38And, uh, in a previous job where I worked, uh, counter unmanned aerial system technology, push an envelope on technology, whether it's directed energy, non-kinetics, it's amazing what industry can come up with. Yes, there's challenging, but there's always opportunities. Yeah, it it seems to me that there's some people on Capitol Hill who are just so invested in mutually assured destruction that we can't we can't shift our paradigm a little bit.
▶ 0:56:02And we better hope if that's what we're going to rely on as mutually assured destruction is that our adversaries um don't don't figure don't uh figure out a way to have ballistic missile defense that they don't figure out a golden dome because then mutually assured destruction will be a thing of the past and will be left in the dust on that. So I think that's very important with the remaining time I have.
▶ 0:56:26Um, General Collins, uh, MDA has been a strong advocate for the importance of space-based sensors that collect fire control quality data. Can you talk about why that level of fidelity is so important to missile defense operations? Yes, thanks for that, Congressman. Uh, certainly, uh, we do see a future. As I mentioned, our architecture did include a number of different sensing capabilities in in space.
▶ 0:56:50Uh, one being the HBTSS to look down and pick up the maneuvering targets and hold them under custody through the entire time of flight. Um, closing the fire control loop is what we call it, fire control, the kill chain for missile defense. We to get our interceptor to work, we need to get it into the right location and looking in the right space to find the missile when it comes time to intercept. And without the appropriate level of sensitivity, track quality and timeliness, we do not get that information to the interceptor in time.
▶ 0:57:20And therefore, we cannot consummate the intercept and we will miss. And so that's going to be uh very important. Whether that's a hypersonic interceptor, uh whether that is a ballistic missile that we intercept in boost phase, midcourse phase, or terminal phase, uh we need to get that queue really uh really tied in and to the interceptor to the command and control system and into the interceptor as quickly as possible to be able to close uh that chain and actually do the intercept. Yeah, thank you, General. I appreciate that. I would just say, Mr. Mr.
▶ 0:57:50Chairman, I mean these these are hard discussions, but we sit in this committee room and we hear about the threat from China day in and day out. We hear about the threat from Russia day in and day out and then we sit up here from this dis or out on the house floor and we make excuses about why we can't fund these things. I'd yield back. Thank you. I thank the gentleman and I would like to thank all of our witnesses on behalf of ranking member Molton and all the committee members for your thoughtful testimony. That'll conclude the open portion of this hearing.
▶ 0:58:18Uh we will uh now move into the close session upstairs.