In a report accompanying a record $440 billion defense appropriations bill for fiscal 2006, the Senate Appropriations Committee directed the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to “complete development and mission integration of the deployable NFIRE Kill Vehicle,” and to use it in the 2006 test. It approved $13.7 million for the NFIRE program.

The test of the NFIRE, or Near Field Infrared Experiment, involves launching a vehicle with sensors from a satellite to approach and observe an in-flight ballistic missile to collect data on its appearance, according to the Defense Department.

Critics in the past have charged that NFIRE was part of a Bush administration plan to “weaponize” space, noting the 2006 test originally involved launching the sensors on a kill vehicle from a satellite toward the missile target. The Missile Defense Agency said there was no plan to hit the target.

Nevertheless, Congress in 2004 said the agency must take steps to avoid hitting the target during the test.

The agency reportedly later last year took the kill vehicle out of the experiment, saying it posed a risk of technical failure.

The new report language urges the agency to gather the data in the test “with the kill vehicle.”

“It sounds to me like the Senate majority wants to run the NFIRE experiment as originally designed,” said Stephen Young, a senior analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Indication of Intent

Critics said the report language also appears to support suspicions that NFIRE was intended all along for developing a space-based antimissile capability, rather than for simply gathering information on missile plumes.

“They’re talking about a deployable kill vehicle, suggesting it’s an actual weapons system. … Those are fighting words,” said Victoria Sampson, a research analyst for the Center for Defense Information.

The report’s recommendation to move the program into a new budget category, one funding the development of new technologies and concepts for use in U.S. missile defenses, is “more damning” in that regard, University of Maryland arms control analyst Jeffrey Lewis said.

The report calls for moving NFIRE into the Ballistic Missile Defense Technology Program.

“If you wanted to use NFIRE as the foundation for a space-based interceptor, you would … put it into the technology program. … Basically, that’s saying we eventually want these for space-based interceptors,” he said.

With the release of its fiscal 2006 budget request this year, the Bush administration disclosed plans to field in space some initial interceptor satellites for testing beginning in fiscal 2008 and possibly deploy an initial, operational constellation in the next decade.

The idea is widely opposed internationally, including by governments friendly to the United States such as Canada.

Consistent with its defense subcommittee recommendations, the Senate committee also yesterday approved the administration’s overall $7.8 billion request for the Missile Defense Agency, as well as $200 million more for “testing and enhancements” of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense program. 

As with last year, it approved no funding for a Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator study (see GSN, Sept. 27).

The Senate defense appropriations bill is scheduled for a floor vote today. The House version was approved in June.