A Raytheon Co. [RTN] product, the Network Centric Airborne Defense Element (NCADE), could substitute for missile defense systems that President Obama has marked for extinction or severe downsizing, an analyst said.

Obama proposes eliminating the Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI), a missile that collides with an enemy missile, and nixed buying any more Airborne Laser (ABL) planes beyond the one existing prototype aircraft. The ABL uses a laser beam at the speed of light to hit enemy missiles shortly after launch, in the boost phase of flight trajectory.

The analyst said this is puzzling: the military acknowledges that it is well to destroy enemy missiles early in flight, and yet the military is abandoning development of those systems. The military instead aims to hit enemy weapons later in their flight, in the ascent phase.

Senior level Pentagon officials have said the ABL is working well, progressing solidly toward its first shoot-down of a target missile. Separately, Congress may override at least some Obama missile defense cuts. (Please see stories in this issue.)

If, however, KEI is killed, and the ABL program doesn’t buy any more planes, as Obama wishes, then NCADE could be a relatively low-cost alternative, according to Loren B. Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute, a think tank near the Pentagon focusing on defense and other issues.

NCADE is fired from an aircraft. Like the ABL and KEI, it hits enemy missiles early in flight, before they have a chance to emit multiple warheads, or confusing decoys or chaff.

Thompson said NCADE "can be deployed on any fighter in the joint inventory, and requires only minor modifications to be installed. Most of the targeting information needed to intercept hostile missiles would be obtained from off-board sensors like the next-generation Space Based Infrared System that were already being built for other purposes. By networking together these various sensors and linking them to the aircraft carrying the interceptor missile, the military can obtain a highly capable defensive system while avoiding many of the costs associated with traditional missile-defense programs. In fact, the whole program can be made operational by 2013 for less than $500 million, at a cost of only $1 million per operational round. That’s a real bargain if it saves a billion-dollar warship."

To be sure, Thompson said NCADE isn’t a panacea. "No weapon is perfect, but at the very least NCADE can provide a deterrent against missile launches by rogue states, and it has the potential to reduce or negate the most potent threat that U.S. forward-deployed forces will face in the years ahead."

To read his paper titled "Missile Defense Shift Puts Spotlight On Raytheon Solution" in full, please go to http://www.lexingtoninstitute.org on the Web.