Missile Defense Project

Authoritative analysis on missile defense and related issues

The Missile Defense Project at CSIS looks at a wide range of policy, program, and strategic issues related to missile defense. Technological and geopolitical factors have driven increased global supply and demand for high-velocity, unmanned, missile-based weapons and their corresponding counters. Besides more recognized cruise and ballistic missile threats, global missile proliferation now consists of a spectrum including precision-guided rockets, anti-ship missiles, air defenses, hypersonic delivery systems, and counterspace weapons.  

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Learn more about the Missile Defense Project and the network of experts, staff, and non-resident affiliates who contribute to our analysis.

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Photo: Airman 1st Class Jack Rodriguez

Photo: Airman 1st Class Jack Rodriguez

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A public discussion series with Heather Williams, Tom Karako, and Kari Bingen offering real-time context and commentary on national security developments and strategic forces issues

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Photo: CSIS Missile Defense Project

Photo: CSIS Missile Defense Project

Mesh Sensing for Air and Missile Defense

Affordable mass has become the watchword of defense modernization, be it swarms of drones or satellite constellations. What could such an approach mean for air and missile defense? Networks of passive, proliferated sensors could make one meaningful contribution. 

Report by Masao Dahlgren, Patrycja Bazylczyk, and Tom Karako — July 21, 2025

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Photo: U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Derek Hamilton/Released

Photo: U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Derek Hamilton/Released

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The Strategic Landpower Dialogue is a quarterly event series featuring senior Army officers and leaders to discuss critical landpower issues

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Missile Threat

Missile Threat brings together a wide range of information and analysis relating to the proliferation of cruise and ballistic missiles around the world and the air and missile defense systems designed to defeat them.

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Missile Defense Project Newsletter - April 2016

On April 15, North Korea attempted a flight test of its BM-25 Musudan missile. The test ended in failure, according to the South Korean military. Pentagon officials stated the missile veered off course shortly after launch and possibly damaged the launcher, describing the incident as “a fiery, catastrophic failure.” 

Newsletter by Tom Karako, Ian Williams, Wes Rumbaugh , and Michael Dyer — April 29, 2016

Missile Defense: Getting to the Elusive Right Side of the Cost Curve

The specter of a ballistic missile attack on the United States and its allies, or at the very least the threat of such an attack, continues to grow. Threat systems from rogue nations such as North Korea and Iran continue to mature in quality and quantity.

Report by Kenneth Todorov — April 8, 2016

JLENS Future Bleak, But Need for Capability Remains

Missile defense is not just about ballistic missiles. The wider problem of integrated air and missile defense, to include cruise missiles, has received growing attention in recent years. However, attempts to design and field an architecture to detect and track cruise missiles has proven challenging…

Commentary — April 5, 2016

JLENS Future Bleak, But Need for Capability Remains

Missile defense is not just about ballistic missiles. The wider problem of integrated air and missile defense, to include cruise missiles, has received growing attention in recent years.

Report by Tom Karako and Ian Williams — April 5, 2016

Missile Defense Project Newsletter - March 2016

Missile defense is not just about ballistic missiles. The wider problem of integrated air and missile defense, to include cruise missiles, has received growing attention in recent years. Last May, for instance, then-Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral James A. Winnefeld remarked that “homeland cruise missile defense is shifting above regional ballistic missile defense, in my mind, as far as importance goes.”

Newsletter by Tom Karako, Ian Williams, Michael Dyer , and Wes Rumbaugh — March 31, 2016

FY17 Budget Squeezes MDA’s Research and Development

The recently released $7.5 billion FY17 budget request for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) represents an $822 million reduction from last year’s enacted budget. These cuts are essentially divided between procurement ($501 million) and research and development ($322 million) as compared to the $8.3 billion MDA budget enacted by Congress for FY16. While cutbacks to…

Commentary — March 16, 2016