1
For a 25-year review of the major BMD technology thrust, see CRS Report RL33240, Kinetic
Energy Kill for Ballistic Missile Defense: A Status Overview, by Steven A. Hildreth.
Order Code RS22120
Updated July 9, 2007
Ballistic Missile Defense:
Historical Overview
Steven A. Hildreth
Specialist in National Defense
Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division
Summary
For some time there has been a growing sense of urgency to develop and deploy
effective missile defenses against a range of long and short range ballistic missile
threats. Although many might believe this to be relative new to U.S. national security
objectives, such interest has been ongoing since the end of World War II. Many current
technologies being investigated date their start to the 1980s, and earlier. This effort has
been challenging technically
1
and politically controversial. Some $110 billion has been
spent since the mid-1980s; Congress appropriated $9.3 billion in FY2006. For FY2008
the Administration requested $8.9 billion for the Missile Defense Agency. This report
provides a brief overview of U.S. efforts to date. It may be updated periodically.
Introduction
Since the mid-1980s, many decision makers and others have demonstrated serious
interest in deploying ballistic missile defense (BMD) systems capable of defending the
United States from missile attack. Events over the past fifteen years contributed to
strengthen these views. The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s heightened
concerns about the possibility of an accidental or unauthorized launch of ballistic missiles
from the remnants of that nation. The Persian Gulf War in 1991, with Iraq’s use of Scud
missiles, proved to many that the growing threat posed by ballistic missiles had to be
addressed. The proliferation of ballistic missile technologies, including sales from nations
such as China, Russia, and North Korea to nations such as Iran, Syria, and Pakistan
became more worrisome to many. Finally, many also argue that some U.S. adversaries,
such as North Korea and Iran, are developing longer-range missiles that might reach the
United States, or threaten U.S. military forces deployed abroad, as well as U.S. friends
and allies.
