[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 147 (Monday, October 1, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S12377]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE U.S. ARMY SPACE AND MISSILE DEFENSE COMMAND

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, it is with great pleasure that I 
recognize the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Army 
Space and Missile Defense Command, an organization that is 
headquartered in Huntsville, AL.
  On this day, October 3, 1957, the Army activated the Redstone Anti-
Missile Missile Systems Office. With a staff of 5 military and 19 
civilians, this organization set the foundation of the Army's space and 
missile defense programs. From these beginnings, they have become an 
international organization of more than 2,000 military and civilians 
devoted to providing around-the-clock space and missile defense 
research and development and operational capabilities. I wish to 
express my congratulations to the Army community in northern Alabama 
for their splendid record of achievement in space and missile defense 
and to ask my colleagues to join me in saluting them for their 
contributions to the security of our Nation and her warfighters.
  This organization and the U.S. Army have led the Nation in space and 
missile defense from the 1957 authorization to proceed with the Nike 
Zeus system to the deployed hit-to-kill national and theater missile 
defense systems today. Along the way, the Army's missile defense team 
has achieved a number of significant milestones: the first successful 
intercept of an intercontinental ballistic missile, ICBM, in 1962; the 
first deployed ballistic missile defense system in the United States in 
1975: the first non-nuc1ear intercept of an ICBM in 1984; the first 
kinetic energy intercept of a tactical missile in 1987; and the first 
directed energy intercepts of rockets in flight in 1996. Their 
battletested products are currently deployed around the world defending 
our Nation, our service members, and our allies.
  In 1957, missile defense brought a new facet to the Army's 
exploration of space in the 1950s. As missions changed, it remained 
constant. In the 1970s, the Army returned to space exploration with a 
precedent setting tactical exploration program. From the 1970s through 
Operation Desert Storm, the first space war, space has become an 
integral element of the warfighter's life. Since then, this 
organization has become the focal point for Army Space. They provide 
research and development to expand the possibilities provided by space. 
They have established a brigade of space soldiers dedicated to space 
superiority and the application of space technology. And today, space 
soldiers and technologies continue to provide battlefield 
communications, satellite imagery and analysis, three-dimensional 
visualization, guidance information, precise early warning of threat 
missiles, and a host of other space-based capabilities tailored for the 
warfighter.
  Together with their Government and industry teammates, the future of 
space and missile defense rests in the hands of the men and women who 
work in this Army organization in Huntsville and Colorado Springs, as 
well as other locations throughout the world.
  Mr. President, I salute Huntsville, the surrounding area, and the 
hard-working men and women of this great region of our country. Most 
importantly, I wish to extend a warm and hearty congratulations to the 
U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command team for a job well done, 
and best wishes for its continued success during the next 50 years and 
beyond. Secure the high ground.

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