The Pentagon has promised to soon appoint a major agency to develop cruise missile defenses after a House subcommittee tried to impose restrictions on the Department of Defense’s No. 2 budget breach budget, the chief of staff said Wednesday. subcommittee.
The chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), Said the Pentagon “has recently responded” and pledged to appoint the leader in late July.
The promise comes after Cooper included a provision in the subcommittee portion of the annual defense clearance bill that would limit 10 percent of Defense Undersecretary Kathleen Hicks’ travel salary for fiscal year 2023 for inaction. , a move first reported by Politico.
The problem arose during the marking of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) panel of 2023 on Wednesday.
“The ongoing war in Ukraine reminds us that integrated air and missile defense is vital in modern conflicts,” Cooper said. “The brand … requires that leadership be finally established for the defense missile architecture of our homeland, a problem that has dragged on for the past five years.”
Pentagon officials have been working to finalize a strategy for the national defense of cruise missiles. These missiles can be launched from airplanes, land, or ships and travel at hypersonic speeds that are difficult to track.
No Pentagon agency or service has yet been assigned to oversee the effort.
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Cooper told Politico that several Defense Department officials raised the issue of the delay “as a reason why some efforts to improve the defense of the country’s cruise missiles have stalled.”
The gap has become more evident with Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine, North Korea’s frequent missile tests, and China’s cruise missile advances.
The Plenary Session of the House Armed Services Committee is scheduled to mark its version of the NDAA on June 22, while the Senate is scheduled to consider its version next week.