The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) fiscal year 2023 defense policy bill includes a provision that would require the Defense Department to plan for acquiring at least 64 Next Generation Interceptors (NGIs), an increase over the 20 missile defense interceptors already planned.
The NGI is the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) new booster rocket and kill vehicle program for homeland missile defense that replaces the canceled Redesigned Kill Vehicle (RKV).
It is slated to start with 20 interceptors placed in silos already built at the missile defense site at Fort Greely, Alaska originally for the RKVs. MDA previously said the cost of 20 NGIs is expected to be upwards of $11 billion.
MDA already fields 44 older Ground based Interceptors (GBIs) at Fort Greely and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Adding 20 NGIs would increase the total to 64 intercontinental ballistic missile defense interceptors.
The SASC bill report, released last week, recommends including a provision in the FY ‘23 defense authorization bill that would require the secretary of defense, as part of the FY ‘24 budget request, to provide Congress with a funding plan “that would enable the acquisition of no fewer than 64 Next Generation Interceptors in order to have a uniform fleet of interceptors with the same attributes.”
The defense secretary would also have to notify Congress of any decision to cancel the NGI program 90 days before implementing the cancellation.
In 2021, MDA chose teams led by Northrop Grumman [NOC] and Lockheed Martin [LMT] to work on initial technology development and risk reduction for the NGI. The agency expects to keep the NGI competition through at least the critical design review (CDR) phase to increase trade space, reliability and potentially allow two builders (Defense Daily, March 23, 2021).
In May, MDA Director Vice Adm. Jon Hill said he expects the first NGI to be emplaced about a year earlier than first planned, thanks to early work with the industry teams (Defense Daily, May 23).
Previously, MDA planned to start testing the NGI in 2025-2026 and start placing new interceptors in silos by 2027-2028.
Also, in a May hearing before the SASC subcommittee on strategic forces, Hill said the department plans to reach a decision on exactly how many NGIs to produce in 2024, since there are options beyond the initial 20. He argued keeping two competitors for so long will allow the department to either build just the 20 planned NGIs or also replace the older GBIs.
During the hearing, Hill said the current GBIs are divided into three classes from oldest to newest: Block 1 GBIs with CE-1 kill vehicles and C1 boosters, Block 2As with CE-II kill vehicles and C1 boosters and Block 2Bs with CE-II Block 1 kill vehicles and C2 boosters.