A Whole of Nation Approach to Continental Defense

AI Summary

The United States is revising its homeland missile defense strategy to counter emerging threats like hypersonic glide vehicles, terrain-hugging cruise missiles, and Fractional Orbital Bombardment Systems. The new ‘Whole-of-Nation’ approach proposes a distributed continental defense system to cope with multi-directional and low-altitude missile threats.

Abstract The traditional, Alaska-centric U.S. homeland missile defense posture—originally engineered for predictable polar ballistic trajectories—is no longer sufficient. Adversaries have systematically developed hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs), terrain-hugging cruise missiles (CMs), and Fractional Orbital Bombardment Systems (FOBS) to bypass these northern defenses. To counter this multi-azimuth, low-altitude, and highly maneuverable threat environment, the United States must buildout a continental distribution of defense capabilities. This “Whole-of-Nation” approach shifts the … Read more The post A Whole of Nation Approach to Continental Defense appeared first on Small Wars Journal by Arizona State University.