Pentagon resists Army's desire to stop development of MEADS missile system

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clipped from www.washingtonpost.com Another battle is brewing at the Pentagon over a costly weapons program that many military leaders do not want but that so far has proven difficult to kill. After several failed attempts, the Army is trying again to cancel a $19 billion missile defense system that the United States is developing in partnership with Italy and Germany. Known as the Medium Extended Air Defense System, or MEADS, it has been in the works for more than a decade and is designed to replace, in part, the Army's aging Patriot system. "At a time of growing threats, MEADS represents the United States' first all-new air and missile defense system of its kind in decades and is the only such program in which allies are sharing the cost to develop a capability that each country needs," Lockheed Martin said in a statement. "In the Pentagon, it's pretty tough to make a program go when a service doesn't want to do it," Young said.

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