
The cancellation of the Redesigned Kill Vehicle (RKV) has set back updates to the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) missile defense system by several years, a top Defense Department official said. When asked at the annual Defense News conference how much a setback the RKV cancellation is, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin said, “well, obviously we weren’t pleased.” While the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) tried to create RKV as an upgrade to the current Ground Based…