Theater Ballistic Missile Defenses: Selected Issues

The United States is actively developing defenses to protect its troops and the citizens of friendly countries against attack by theater ballistic missiles. Those missiles -- the type that Iraq used during the Persian Gulf War -- have shorter ranges than the missiles with intercontinental range that the superpowers deploy as part of their nuclear arsenals. This memorandum is not intended as a complete analysis of issues related to theater missile defenses. Rather, it responds to questions posed by the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. It briefly describes the theater missile defense (TMD) programs that the United States is currently pursuing. It also discusses the advantages of overlap among the various systems that all four services are developing and the cost problems that might result. Finally, the memorandum addresses compliance issues with the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty raised by several TMD programs. The memorandum answers the following questions: What Programs are in Development?, Does Overlap Exist between the Many TMD Systems?, What ABM Compliance Issues do Theater Defenses Raise?, and Are Budgetary Problems Likely through 1999?