Trump to unveil Missile Defense Review at Pentagon: report

President Trump plans to visit the Pentagon on Thursday to unveil a long-awaited report on the status of the country’s missile defense capabilities, Bloomberg reported.

Trump will reportedly reveal the Missile Defense Review, a look at U.S. missile defense capabilities and needs that will drive the administration’s Pentagon funding request for the upcoming fiscal year 2020 budget. 

{mosads}The Pentagon directed inquiries about the report’s release to the White House, which did not respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

The congressionally mandated report was originally scheduled to be released in late 2017 and then in February 2018.

It was further pushed back when the administration decided to expand its scope from ballistic missile defense to all missile defense. The document was finished in October.

Industry, missile defense communities and nonproliferation groups have closely tracked the report’s release, as many expect the document to call for increased spending on new missile defense technologies. 

The department has only revealed snippets of such plans, with Michael Griffin, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, saying late last year that the Pentagon is planning to increase investment in directed energy systems used for missile defense.

The report is also expected to included changes in missile defense strategy toward Russia and China.