Pentagon officials and former First Lady Nancy Reagan will formally dedicate facilities for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., in honor of former President Ronald Reagan. According to the Lompoc (Calif.) Record, USAF Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, Missile Defense Agency Director, announced the plan, saying it would honor Reagan for his commitment to advancing missile defense technology. Vandenberg is slated to be the site for four missile interceptors, the first of which MDA installed in December 2004.
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.
