Congress this week quashed the Pentagon's plans to start studies on a "space test bed" for missile defense, Aviation Week reports:
Missile defense advocates tried to resurrect MDA's request Oct. 3, but opponents claimed it was another step toward the so-called armed "Star Wars" concept. In particular, Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), a vocal missile defense proponent, and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D), an ardent critic, squared off during debate of FY '08 defense appropriations over Kyl's effort to restore the $10 million request.
Kyl eventually withdrew his amendment as it faced significant opposition from top defense appropriator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and other leading Democrats. So far neither House nor Senate defense authorizers, nor House appropriators, have approved or funded MDA's request.
Nevertheless, since China destroyed one of its own satellites in January with a ballistic missile, Kyl has pushed an aggressive defense of MDA budget requests on Capitol Hill and has even criticized Bush administration actions as insufficient (DAILY, Jan. 30). His test bed appropriations push, a repeat effort, follows explicit calls for space-based weapons to defend satellites.
It's wasn't a tiny chunk of change either; the article says the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency planned to spend $300 million between 2008 and 2013 on the space test bed concept.
