WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — An earlier GAO report on US missile defense on February 17, 2016 stated that the MDA had failed to demonstrate through flight testing that it could defend the US homeland against the current missile defense threat.
It also noted that a full assessment of the system’s effectiveness was currently not possible.
"MDA plans to spend around $38 billion through fiscal year 2020 to continue its efforts to develop, integrate, and field BMDS [ballistic missile defense systems] elements and targets necessary for testing," the report said on Thursday.
The MDA has claimed only one successful interception of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)-like target in the past eight years of tests.
"Since 2002, MDA has received approximately $123 billion to develop and deploy the BMDS, which is a highly complex group of systems," the GAO report stated.
