Our Mission

The Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) mission is to develop, test, and field an integrated, layered, ballistic missile defense system (BMDS) to defend the United States, its deployed forces, allies, and friends against all ranges of enemy ballistic missiles in all phases of flight.

 

National Missile Defense Act

It is the policy of the United States to deploy, as soon as is technologically possible, an effective National Missile Defense system capable of defending the territory of the United States against limited ballistic missile attack (whether accidental, unauthorized, or deliberate) with funding subject to the annual authorization of appropriations and the annual appropriation of funds for National Missile Defense.
— National Missile Defense Act of 1999 (Public Law 106-38 signed by President Clinton)

Four Focus Areas of Missile Defense

  1. Enhance missile defense to defend deployed forces, allies and friends against theater threats
  2. Continue a viable homeland defense against rogue state threats beyond 2030
  3. Prove missile defense works
  4. Develop technologies to hedge against future threat growth

MDA Strategic Goals

In order to achieve our mission, the MDA is dedicated to the following goals:

  1. The United States will continue to defend the homeland against the threat of limited ballistic missile attack.
  2. The United States will defend against regional missile threats to U.S. forces, while protecting allies and partners and enabling them to defend themselves.
  3. Before new capabilities are deployed, they must undergo testing that enables assessment under realistic operational conditions.
  4. The commitment to new capabilities must be fiscally sustainable over the long term.
  5. U.S. BMD capabilities must be flexible enough to adapt as threats change.
  6. The United States will seek to lead expanded international efforts for missile defense.