There are, moreover, other ways to provide such a defense -- notably, from the sea using modified AEGIS fleet air defense ships -- that could enable a national missile defense to be fielded for a fraction of the cost of the ground-based system.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Sea-Based Missile Defenses -- for the Allies, for the U.S.
The latter considerations argue for an aggressive near-term effort to adapt the Navy's AEGIS fleet air defense ships for this purpose.
This will require immediately expanding the number of Navy ships with the Aegis fleet air defense system that are equipped to intercept ship-launched ballistic missiles.
Of these, clearly the most cost-effective and -- if properly executed -- nearest-term would be a sea-based program using the Navy's existing Aegis fleet air defense assets.
This will almost certainly involve the use of sea-based assets utilizing the Navy's AEGIS fleet air defense infrastructure -- an option the Russians are determined to foreclose.
The test involved the third straight intercept by a SM 3 missile launched from a cruiser, the U.S.S. Lake Erie, equipped with the Aegis fleet air defense system.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Get On With It: Time To Deploy Sea-Based Missile Defenses
It can be achieved most rapidly, most efficiently and most affordably from the sea, by adapting the Navy's AEGIS fleet air defense system to shoot down ballistic missiles.
For the fifth time out of six attempts, Navy ships successfully tracked, intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile in-fight, using their existing AEGIS fleet air defense systems and a new Standard Missile, dubbed the SM-3.
In short, the Department of Defense has built a fleet that can move our forces into battle, but to sustain those forces over a prolonged period of conflict, the Nation will still have to rely on the merchant marine.
It stands to reason that, if the political will, streamlined management and necessary resources are brought to bear, the Navy's existing Aegis fleet air defense infrastructure would be able to provide at least some anti-missile protection for the American people -- as well as for their forces and allies overseas -- well before 2005.
Although critics sometimes question the value of having a globally deployed fleet of warships, missile defense is one area where forward presence and unfettered mobility have proven to be increasingly important.
Navy officials closely guard the location of their vessels, and defense officials wouldn't say what parts of the Atlantic fleet would be reduced.
Even so, the absolute number of ships would increase in Asia, defense officials said, as ships are drawn down from the Atlantic Fleet and others reassigned to the Pacific.
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