The Full Costs of Ballistic Missile Defense

Washington DC, and Pearl River, NY: Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, and Economists Allied for Arms Reduction, 2003. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Wraps. xix, [1], 100 pages. Preface by Kenneth J. Arrow. Authors include William A. Cox, David Gold, and Rodney W. Jones. Footnotes. Tables. Sources. Format is approximately 8.5 inches by 11 inches. Cover has slight wear and soiling. In the early 1980s, technology had matured to consider space based missile defense options. Precision hit-to-kill systems more reliable than the early Nike Zeus were thought possible. With these improvements, the Reagan Administration promoted the Strategic Defense Initiative, an ambitious plan to provide a comprehensive defense against an all-out ICBM attack. Reagan established the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO), which was later changed to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO). In 2002, BMDO's name was changed to its current title, the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). There are many dimensions along which to analyze the multiple programs which claim to offer a defense against long-range missiles. But surely one of the key elements is the sheer cost. When a program requires many years of development, production, installation, and operation, the costs incurred at the beginning will be misleadingly low as to the ultimate cost of the system. As weapons systems have become more sophisticated and more complicated, this disparity between ultimate and immediate costs has grown. But few, if any, military or other systems match the long-run nature of the commitments involved in ballistic missile defense. In a government budget system dominated by annual cycles, the tendency to underestimate the future cost implications of current commitments is very strong. The conservative and well-documented approach to the estimation of the costs and the care with which the links to other implications are brought out will insure that this study will, or at least should, play a major role in a needed public debate on a policy which is developing in a piecemeal fashion with little attention to long-term consequences. We must make wise and balanced decisions today, lest we find ourselves in the future with severely limited choices. Condition: Very good.

Keywords: Ballistic Missile Defense, Theater Missile, Boost-Phase, Defense Industry, Military Technology, Arms Control, BMD, Weapon Systems, Cost Analysis, Layered Defense

[Book #75108]

Price: $50.00

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