Jim Saxton: “this amendment, is perhaps well intended but goes much too far. This together with the $764 million that has already…”

“this amendment, is perhaps well intended but goes much too far. This together with the $764 million that has already been cut from the bill provides us with a 20 percent cut in the missile defense program. Since 2001, contrary to what the proponents of this amendment just said, the Missile Defense Agency has conducted 27 successful hit-to-kill intercepts. That is 27 out of 36 attempts. I am very proud of these results. Let me just highlight some of them. On September 1, 2006, we successfully employed an operational ground-based mid-course defense interceptor. In November 2005 and in June 2006, and again in April 2007, less than a month ago, the SM-3 successfully intercepted both separating and unitary targets. In July 2006, January 2007, and April 6, 2007, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, THAAD, System, successfully intercepted unitary targets. Finally, during this past March, we saw a successful hit in-flight test of the Airborne Laser Targeting System; all successes, not failures.”