The Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) FY 2022 budget request is set at $8.9 billion, slightly under the $9.2 billion request from the current year.
In budget documents, the Defense Department said the MDA is still pursuing a layered homeland defense approach with improvements over current regional systems as an underlayer to the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system as well as continuing development of the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI).
The biggest ticket items the agency is requesting include $603 million in Command and Control Battle Management and Communication (C2BMC) system; $745 million for the GMD to continue to upgrade ground infrastructure and fire control/kill vehicle software to improve reliability; $926 million to fund initial requirements analysis, design, development, prototyping, and various testing for the NGI program; $732 million for Aegis missile defense including design, development and integration of the Standard Missile-3 Block IB and IIA as well as improved software development; $755 million to procure 40 Aegis SM-3 IB, eight SM-3 Block IIA missiles; and continuing a multiyear procurement for SM-3 IB missiles ending in FY 2023; and $278 million for Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) development efforts.
In budget documents the agency said it will continue to evaluate a new THAAD interceptor prototype to support U.S. defense as part of the layered system to back up the GMD system. MDA is requesting $251.5 million to procure 18 THAAD interceptors and associated work.
The agency is also continuing to invest in hypersonic defense systems, requesting $248 million to help develop a layered defensive architecture to defend against regional hypersonic weapon threats including sensors, solutions, upgrading C2BMC systems, and accelerating development of an operational demonstration of a hypersonic defense using the Aegis Weapons System.
MDA is requesting $363 million to continue various testing efforts. This includes testing the NGI, demonstrating use of Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX) data for additional sensing, flight tests for SM-3 IIA, increased flight test integration and interoperability testing with allies, and updates on planned cybersecurity testing.