On Monday, August 8, it was reported that the Pentagon needs a new way to coordinate and advocate for “missile defeat”—the ability to take out enemy missiles and launchers before launch—to reduce the requirement on active missile defenses, and U.S. Space Command should be in charge, the U.S. Army’s top missile defense official says. While there is extensive focus on missile defense—the ability to detect, track and kill a long-range missile from launch—there is much less coordination on what is done “left of launch,” says Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler, commander of Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC). There needs to be a singular official in charge of how to deny, disrupt or destroy an enemy’s capability before launch, he said.

Also on Monday, it was reported that using advanced digital design methods, the two teams competing to develop the Missile Defense Agency’s Next-Generation Interceptor are nearing a key milestone by the end of the year: a preliminary design review for the all-up round. The agency chose two teams – Northrop Grumman working with Raytheon Technologies, an RTX company, and Lockheed Martin with Aerojet Rocketdyne – to design a replacement for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system’s Ground-Based Interceptors. The contracts for both teams are worth $1.6 billion in total.

On Tuesday, August 9, Germany said that it had offered to extend the deployment of its Patriot missile defense systems in Poland, likely until the end of the year. Berlin sent three Patriot units to eastern Poland in January after a deadly blast struck a Polish village in late 2022, believed to be from a stray Ukrainian air defense missile. The deployment of the advanced US-made systems was originally meant to be for a maximum of six months, as Berlin seeks to ensure its own weapons stocks are not depleted. But the defense ministry said in a statement that it had offered to allow Poland to keep the systems “over the summer, probably until the end of the year.”

Also on Tuesday, it was reported the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is planning a first flight test of some elements that will make up the air and missile defense architecture of Guam in December 2024, the agency’s acting director said Aug. 9 at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium. The test will involve the Navy’s Aegis weapon system deployed to Guam and the SM-3 Block IIA interceptor, Rear Adm. Doug Williams said. He is serving as the acting director while the nominated director, Maj. Gen. Heath Collins, awaits Senate confirmation. Williams is the agency’s director of testing. The first wave of defenses designed to counter complex missile threats against Guam will include radars, launchers, interceptors, and a command-and-control system to be placed on the island next year, according to previous agency lead Vice Adm. Jon Hill.

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