Alabama's role in missile defense

The Huntsville Times ran several articles last week outlining the Rocket City's contributions towards developing the nation's missile defense and intelligence capabilities:

From Sunday, July 9: "Missile defense chief says system ready; experts note limitations."

If a North Korean long-range missile is ever launched at the American West Coast, decades of Huntsville missile defense work will be aimed at stopping it.

Between the Missile Defense Agency, Boeing Co. and many subcontractors in Huntsville, the Rocket City supplies 1,200 people doing about 80 percent of the work toward fielding the $50 billion missile defense system that ties advanced radar to interceptor missiles in the ground in Alaska and California.

"I can't imagine there being anywhere else we could perform this work," said Brig. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, head of the Huntsville-based Ground-based Midcourse Missile Defense Joint Program Office.

From Tuesday, July 11: "Local missile analysts fight war of data" and "North Korean launch shows need for MSIC monitoring."

Not everybody can lay claim to a job that contributes to the official daily reading of the president of the United States.

However, many people at the Missile Space Intelligence Center at Redstone Arsenal do just that by getting the best information on global hot spots, intelligence and military leaders said here Monday.

The key job of intelligence gathering is getting information into the hands of decision makers quickly, Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said during a visit to Huntsville.

"The diplomats and policy-makers of our governments are deeply impacted by what the people here do," Maples said. "Their analysis has, for years, gone to the desks of presidents and key leaders."

The situation in North Korea is no different than events in the past, Maples said after a ceremony that marked the 50th anniversary of the Missile and Space Intelligence Center (MSIC) at Redstone Arsenal. ...

The center obtains and analyzes missile systems, such as the Russian-made Scud ballistic missiles that threatened troops during the 1991 Gulf War and again in the 2003 battles for Iraq. Also, the center helps Air Force pilots figure out ways to beat surface-to-air missiles.

The July 4 launches of North Korean ballistic missiles did not catch American intelligence off-guard, Maples said, because the men and women of MSIC had done their jobs properly.

From Thursday, July 13: "There's no other place like it."

To keep soldiers safe and win an extended war on terrorism, the country needs Huntsville and Redstone Arsenal to keep producing innovative work, the Army's chief pilot in the Pentagon said Wednesday.

"Redstone and Huntsville both are extremely vital to the support of the soldier - not just to me and Army aviation and missiles, but to the nation, given all the work that goes on across multiple agencies here," said Brig. Gen. Stephen D. Mundt, the U.S. Army's aviation director, during an Armed Forces Week luncheon at the Von Braun Center. "There's no other place like it."