Each August -- when northern Alabama reaches peak mugginess -- defense contractors, military officials and scientists descend on Huntsville for the Space & Missile Defense Conference and Exhibition, the annual confab for devotees of missile defense.
It's a chance to hang out in Rocket City, U.S.A., and catch up on the latest in missile-defense technology. And if you're lucky, you might get to rub elbows with Riki Ellison or (Ret.) Lt. Gen. Trey Obering.
One wonders, however, what the mood will be at this year's conference. After years of sustained investment in missile defense systems under President George W. Bush, the overall budget for missile defense is being scaled back, and the new administration is taking aim at some of the more technologically ambitious schemes -- like "boost phase" systems meant to knock down ballistic missiles shortly after they leave the launch pad. But it can't be all doom-and-gloom: Despite the cutbacks, the Pentagon is still planning to up its investment in what Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has termed "our most capable theater missile defense systems": the Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense and the Navy’s Standard Missile-3 (pictured here in a recent flight test).
So what's on the agenda? Well, in true defense-contracting tradition, the first day of the conference is inevitably devoted to golf. We'll be checking in later this week to see what news emerges.
[PHOTO: MDA]
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