WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Gortney explained the current technology, which directs a missile at another missile in midcourse flight, is a "failing proposition" because the number of missiles adversaries can produce is "more than we can ever possibly afford to put in the ground."
"It [US Ballistic Missile Defense System] is not going to be enough, because it is not going to be able to outpace the threat in the number… that can be shot at us as we project into the future," Gortney told the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
Both NORTHCOM and the US Missile Defense Agency are confident the BMD system can engage a limited number of incoming missiles, but have warned that the system could be overwhelmed with the international proliferation of long-range missile technologies.
To address the technology shortfalls, the United States is currently working on new systems, including the multiple-object kill vehicle, a single interceptor missile capable of engaging and destroying multiple targets as well as directed energy weapons.
