This week former Deputy National Security Advisor for Communications and Global Outreach Mark Pfeifle and other critics renewed their campaign to discredit MEADS. Pfeifle's assertions about MEADS are just wrong.
Previously he opposed a $400-million budget allocation to complete the nine-year MEADS development contract, yet he remains unconcerned about a plan to waste $850 million to develop a new radar for the 40-year-old Patriot (Inside Missile Defense, March 19, 2014). It would give Patriot the 360-degree coverage that the developed MEADS radars already have and the U.S. has paid for once already. The plan also includes $28.4 million for Patriot combat identification enhancements to further mitigate misclassification and fratricide risk, which the advanced MEADS Mode 5 Identification Friend or Foe system already does.
More importantly, the $850 million does nothing to address Patriot's recognized deficiencies: lack of mobility, lack of open-architecture network capability, a large logistics tail, and launchers that can only protect a 90-degree wedge.
It's important to note that the MEADS program:
- Will complete design and development on cost. When trinational development ends later this year, costs will match what was agreed in 2004 -- there is no overrun.
The U.S. has already spent billions of dollars upgrading Patriot systems and still doesn't have the capability the Army seeks to protect our warfighters and allies. Spending millions more on Patriot in challenging economic times doesn't make sense when MEADS has successfully demonstrated these critical system capabilities and they are ready today.