Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) Initial Defensive Operations Capability (IDOC) at Vandenberg Air Force Base Environmental Assessment

Within the Department of Defense, the MDA is responsible for developing, testing, and deploying the Ballistic Missile Defense System. The Ballistic Missile Defense System is designed to intercept threat missiles during all phases of their flight: boost, midcourse, and terminal. The Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) is a component of the midcourse defense, during which the Ground-Based Interceptors (GBIs) intercept and destroy long-range missiles during the ballistic (midcourse) phase of their flight before their reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, on behalf of MDA, has conducted an Environmental Assessment (EA) of the potential environmental consequences of establishing the capability to launch defensive GBis from Vandenberg Air Force Base (AFB), California, in support of the President's direction to the Department of Defense to field a set of initial missile defense capabilities.