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The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) was an agency of the
United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...
that began on 20 May 1974 with the responsibility for all U.S.
ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typic ...
defense efforts. It was renamed the
Missile Defense Agency The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is a component of the Federal government of the United States, United States government's United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense responsible for developing a comprehensive Missile defense, defe ...
in 2002.


History

BMDO evolved from the SAFEGUARD System Organization. The original mission of BMDO was comparable to that of SAFEGUARD, which was to defend U.S. ballistic missile sites, but BMDO additionally had the more general role of conducting research and development in advanced ballistic missile defense (BMD) technology and also managed what was then called the Kwajalein Missile Range (KMR). In July 1984, BMDO became a part of the
Strategic Defense Initiative Organization The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic nuclear missiles. The program was announced in 1983, by President Ronald Reagan. Reagan called for a ...
(SDIO) and one year later BMDO was renamed the U.S. Army Strategic Defense Command. The name "Ballistic Missile Defense Organization" (BMDO) came back into use in 1993 when SDIO was renamed BMDO by the administration of President
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
and this was accompanied by a shift in emphasis from national missile defense to theater missile defense, i.e. from global to regional coverage. In 1998, focus shifted back to national missile defense when Defense secretary
William Cohen William Sebastian Cohen (born August 28, 1940) is an American lawyer, author, and politician from the U.S. state of Maine. A Republican, Cohen served as both a member of the United States House of Representatives (1973–1979) and Senate (1979� ...
proposed spending an additional $6.6 billion on ballistic missile defense programs to build a national system to protect against attacks from North Korea or accidental launches from Russia or China. BMDO became better known in the public eye in 1994 when it launched a space probe,
Clementine A clementine (''Citrus × clementina'') is a tangor, a citrus fruit hybrid between a willowleaf mandarin orange ( ''C.'' × ''deliciosa'') and a sweet orange (''C. × sinensis''), named in honor of Clément Rodier, a French missionary who f ...
, to the
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
, in collaboration with
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
. BMDO was primarily interested in field testing new satellite and space reconnaissance technologies incorporated in Clementine, technologies which enabled Clementine to discover pockets of ice at the Moon's south pole. BMDO was renamed the
Missile Defense Agency The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is a component of the Federal government of the United States, United States government's United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense responsible for developing a comprehensive Missile defense, defe ...
in 2002 by the administration of President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
.


Timeline


See also

*
Strategic Defense Initiative Organization The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic nuclear missiles. The program was announced in 1983, by President Ronald Reagan. Reagan called for a ...
(SDIO), predecessor organization *
Missile Defense Agency The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is a component of the Federal government of the United States, United States government's United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense responsible for developing a comprehensive Missile defense, defe ...
(MDA), successor organization *
Ground-Based Midcourse Defense Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD), previously National Missile Defense (NMD), is an anti-ballistic missile system implemented by the United States of America for defense against ballistic missiles, during the midcourse phase of ballistic t ...
(GMD), previously named
National Missile Defense National missile defense (NMD) refers to the nationwide antimissile program the United States has had under development since the 1990s. After the renaming in 2002, the term now refers to the entire program, not just the ground-based intercepto ...
(NMD) *
Anti-satellite weapon Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) are space weapons designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for Military strategy, strategic or Military tactics, tactical purposes. Although no ASAT system has been utilized in warfare, a few countries (China, ...
s *
Anti-ballistic missile An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to Missile defense, destroy in-flight ballistic missiles. They achieve this explosively (chemical or nuclear), or via hit-to-kill Kinetic projectile, kinetic vehicles, which ma ...
*
Militarization of space The militarisation of space involved the placement and development of weaponry and military technology in outer space. The early exploration of space in the mid-20th century had, in part, a military motivation, as the United States and the So ...


References


Chapter III


Footnotes


External links

{{Commons category, Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
Missile Defense Agency
Missile Defense Agency Space weapons United States military history timelines Articles which contain graphical timelines Strategic Defense Initiative